Yesterdays' February half-term children's art workshop...what a ball!

It's Movietime!!  

(Scroll down after the movie)

Isn't that just the nuts?  We had the most wonderful day yesterday.  30 children, lots of doing, making, drawing, colouring, dancing, story-telling and cake eating!!

Thanks to everyone for making it such a brilliant day.  Creativity in everyday life is SO important.  We can suppress it for years and years then rediscover it when the time is right.  Our confidence is low and it grows when we begin to practise it again.  

When we are children, our natural state is to launch in and get messy.  As we grow we somehow lose the abandon to explore life through art - this is a huge shame.  The good news is though that it comes tumbling back whenever we want it to, we just need the keys...and the keys are....(are you ready?) the keys are.... allowing ourselves to do it.  accepting that it might take us a while to get 'good' (whatever we deem to be good) and simply allow ourselves to actually do it, to pick up a brush, a pencil and just 'do'.  

It's peasey...I promise!  Come on one of my workshops...that's my favourite bit... working with someone that hasn't done any art for a gazillion years...let me hold your hand...literally!  

Much love

Sam x

Help...snowed in with the children?! Make newspaper bowls & decorate away!

Thank you whole heartedly to the wonderful team at Access Art for this absolute Gem from Lisa Smith.

For my Artypops after-school art class last week I will still at a bit of a loss as to what to do with the babes considering we had done a drawing session the week before.   It was really good giggle as I got the children to draw in pencil masking taped to the end of 50cm garden canes, they loved it naturally.

This week I wanted to do something makey-decoratey as they LOVE to take things home and I had had some new beady-jewellery things delivered this week too.

What to decorate?  Well, thanks to the wonderful treasure chest full of art ideas and inspiration for both children and adults I came across these.

Newspaper Bowls.

Newspaper, large sheets are good.

Garden bamboo cane or a 

Lashings of glue

Tissue paper

Gems & Beads

1.

Take something to roll the newspaper around, I used a garden bamboo cane.  Having laid the newspaper flat out, roll up with the bamboo cane inside LOOSELY as you need it to slip out at the end.  Lay the newspaper out flatly and squish down.  You may need to double it over so its proper thick, I had to.  Tape with making tape in the middle and at the ends.  peasey.

2.  

Next..roll up the newspaper so its tight as can be..am going to borrow a picture or two here from Access Art..

Tightly coil up the newspaper until it looks a bit like this:

3.  When you have your flat coil of newspaper, begin to push the bottom of the bowl out.  Do so gently and feel free to reinforce with masking tape, I did.

4.

& then...decorate away!  Lashings of glue and paste over with tissue paper.  Add more glue to 'varnish' it all and then stick on a piece of paper and pop on the radiator or in the airing cupboard overnight.  Perfecto!