www.sremac.com
Danielle’s Studio Workshops
Home Paintings About the Artist Shop Danielle’s Studio Workshops Contact Student Gallery		Children’s Workshop—Approach The creative process involved in painting results in achievement that goes well beyond artistic skill. At the Fine Art Workshop creativity is nurtured within the parameters of expanding children’s intellectual growth by learning not only skills to paint, but also concentration, observation, problem solving, patience, and determination to carry out a project from conception to completion. Perfecting these skills will provide students not only with the gift of art throughout their life, but will help them with other disciplines as well. The main overall goal is to provide students with confidence gained from seeing the excellent results of their work, which builds motivation and the desire to do more paintings in the future.
		Skills Developed in Class Observation Observation is crucial in developing young minds. It helps children learn to focus on any task and become more aware and sensitive to their environment—leading to better communication and greater success in any field of interest. The young artist workshop focuses on developing children’s powers of observation and translating them into compositions on canvas. At the studio, a simple, fine art method is applied through lessons on composition, perspective, mixing color, as well as palette knife and brush stroke techniques specially designed to get students painting right away—with remarkable results.
		Concentration Painting is probably one of the most enjoyable ways of developing good concentration because the beauty of the composition and color draws the mind to focus on the task at hand. The young artist workshop is designed to develop concentration skills needed to complete a painting, but also to exercise the mind and develop cognitive skills needed to advance learning in other subjects as well.
	Patience ~ Ability to Plan and Complete a Task The young artist workshop aims to promote a standard of excellence in art. As with other projects they will encounter in life, students will learn that completing an art work is a systematic process. Every successful outcome requires planning, patience, effort and motivation. The resulting painting will be a physical reminder to them that great input yields great result in any endeavor. Problem solving and Confidence Building Creating an art work involves a great deal of trial and error. The young artist workshop teaches children that learning from mistakes is normal. Mistakes can be turned into creative inspirations and should not become a source of disappointment. Painting is one of the best ways to promote positive thinking since it is a physical representation of how mistakes could be turned into the most wonderful variations on the student’s original aim and goal. The knowledge that a solution can always be found promotes a sense of confidence among students that can extend to other aspects of life as well. Sample Lesson Plan LESSON 1 Introduction to Art Brief history of art, genres and painting techniques Why we create art The Three-dimensional World Becoming acquainted with how shadows and highlights define our three-dimensional world Learning to see geometric and abstract shapes Sketching basic shapes The Tools of Painting Mixing and blending colors Brushes & knives Palette Easel Canvas Home Assignment Students will take their color board home for review Students will receive the Young Artist Workshop Instruction Book to read at home before next class LESSON 2 Subject & Composition What to paint—choosing subjects How to create a good composition Perspective—how to capture your vision Light & Shadow—how to give the impression of a three-dimensional space Size of objects in your composition Symmetry and visual appeal Choosing colors First Painting Painting subjects close up—flower Preparing the canvas Mixing paints Palette knife and brush technique LESSON 3 Second Painting Painting subjects from a distance—landscape Preparing the canvas Mixing paints Palette knife and brush technique LESSON 4 Third Painting Students choose subject and composition for their third painting Preparing canvas Individual guidance on mixing paints and technique as applied to each student’s particular painting Comparative Study Review of all student paintings completed in class Study of how each student’s choice of color influenced the look and mood of the painting
© 2010 Danielle Darcy Sremac All Rights Reserved