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Kids Atelier
Kids Atelier is a platform for children from 6-11 years who take pleasure in making visual art and/or are interested in dance/movement
We drew inspiration from the gorgeous photographs by Bruno van den Elshout, an artist from The Hague. He captured the sea at Kijkduin every hour for an entire year, resulting in many surprising and colourful seascapes and an impressive book called 'New Horizons’. www.newhorizonsahead.nl/beeld![]()
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I chose to introduce the children to a new technique using soft pastels, which is sometimes employed in art therapy. Soft pastels can be easily blended and layered by smudging and blending with fingers. This tactile technique can be both soothing and grounding for the children.![]()
We began with a warm-up exercise where each child selected an emotion and then created artwork in response to that feeling.![]()
Then, we drew imaginary seascapes, focusing on blending similar colours while also creating contrasts between the sea and the sky.
We were focused on recreating existing traffic signs to make them more enjoyable and acceptable, almost like adopting the approach of street artists. ![]()
We also drew inspiration from a compilation of all existing road signs (used as a projection on the wall). ![]()
Following this, children began imagining their own signs, aiming to bring humor to their streets or homes. They sketched their ideas using pencils and black markers, and then added lively watercolours to complete their designs.
In the last session we were preparing to go on a spring holiday, packing our dreams and flying high in a hot-air balloon.![]()
But before we commenced our travel journey, we did a small warm-up exercise involving colourful ink-spots and lots of water. After that, we were ready to work! ![]()
The children first sketched their story on aquarelle paper, thinking about what it would be like to travel on their holidays with their friends or family in a fantastic self-designed hot-air balloon. Then they used bright watercolours, with the option of using black ink and pen to highlight the important contours if they wanted.![]()
Their favourite part seemed to be playing with the watercolours and ink spots to give life to their visions.
In an earlier class we learned to mix all the colours of the rainbow and also discovered how to make our own grey shades (for clouds).![]()
This time, we were ready to use these skills to create an imaginary cat that swallowed a rainbow 🙂![]()
The children could either choose to draw cats from memory or pick a photograph of a cat as inspiration.![]()
Using acrylic on canvas, they produced lovely artworks combining both very bright colours and grey-scale tones to express an array of funny rainbow animals.
During our last session we tried to combine learning with fun, and made our own colour wheel, starting with only the three primary colours – yellow, red and blue – and mixing them to make more colours using acrylic paint.![]()
With this palette, we then tackled our new topic, using photographs as inspiration: to paint a brightly coloured Italian village – or maybe one in Mexico?
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Welkom in ons creatieve kinderatelier in het centrum van Den Haag. Veel ruimte en tegelijk een kleinschalige, persoonlijke opzet vormen de perfecte omgeving voor creatieve expressie en ontwikkeling. Kinderen tussen 6 en 11 jaar leven zich uit tijdens de beeldende kunstlessen van Johanna Bilak en de bewegingskunstlessen van Valentina Scaglia.
