Hello lovely people. I hope you are enjoying some sunshine. I had so much feedback from my last newsletter on encouraging creativity in kids I thought I would follow up with more thoughts on drawing. I truly believe that drawing is a skill that everyone can learn to do with practice. It amazes me that people think you should be able to draw on your first try. Just over a year ago I wasn’t able to draw people but I really wanted to. So I took a free online course from www.willowing.net and I practiced and now I love drawing faces. The first ones were definitely not my finest work but they kept improving. You wouldn’t expect to be able to pick up an instrument and play perfectly, you would take lessons. You wouldn’t expect your kids to be able to ride a bike without training wheels right away or hit a baseball without practice. Drawing works the same way. Some people are gifted in certain areas and might be able to pick things up faster but the point is if you practice a skill on a regular basis you are most likely going to improve. Maybe that is why kids that are younger feel more confident with drawing. They have more practice in preschool, kindergarten and in grade 1 classes. After grade 2 I find that there is less opportunity for free drawing and more focus on reading, spelling and math. So if you or your child want to be able to draw, give it a try! There are tons of drawing tutorials that are free online on YouTube. One that I really like that is good for kids is called artforkidshub. They do drawing tutorials that would appeal to boys as well.
I included a drawing of a mandala that I did in my art journal. It is from a lesson in a free online course I am taking called women unleashed. It is quite relaxing to do. You just start with any shape and then respond to that shape by adding something to it and continue to do this around in a circle. I would love to see your creations. Give it a try! All you need is a piece of paper and some markers or you can even just do this with a pencil or pen.
Happy creating everyone. Sending lots of hugs out there to you.
No comments yet.