Author: Johanna Bilak

First we learned some basics about how to draw a portrait, and then we observed the face of a friend sitting on the opposite side of the table. This was also a good way to get to know each other. I tried to find a balance between enabling the kids’ spontaneous expression and teaching them some rules :-). We were inspired by the portrait of a ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ by Johannes Vermeer, who emphasised the light and contrast between the model and background by painting the background completely black.

In the last class before the summer break we made graphic art inspired by Escher (the Dutch artist who worked with graphic patterns). Children created their own printing stamps so they could print repeated patterns with them. First they drew animal silhouettes that would become shapes for the printing stamps (imaginary animals or animals based on a realistic model). Then they printed the stamps in two colours. Inspired by Escher’s tiling examples, the children distributed the stamps on paper in a similar way to the artist.
What can you see around the repeated forms? When one looks closely, other (animal) shapes are emerging in the counter (negative) forms.

We thought it would be nice to get some inspiration from Mr. M.C. Escher. ‘Escher in Het Paleis’ museum is a must-see in The Hague! The kids were naturally attracted to the visually intriguing artworks of this notable Dutch graphic artist. We also took part in the ‘Quest’ offered by the museum, with the last 45 minutes being spent in their workshop making some sketches inspired by Escher’s tessellation (tiling) method. Photo: Lukas Timulak

I was sitting next to Noemi, and we were observing a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Choosing to draw each flower separately, Noemi followed step by step what I was doing on my sketch board. The result is astonishing for a small child.

The sun was shining during our first art class in the new studio. We were first looking at an example of an innovative machine (a bicycle that makes shakes and cocktails). Then we invented our own fantasy machines with different purposes: sustainability for our planet, to make us or other people happy or to fulfil our dreams. We used pencils or black markers and then we went on to colour in our works with bright watercolours. I enjoyed the kids’ brilliant stories, and the artworks are just full of good ideas and lovely to look at. Thank you for letting your children join us and make art; I am so grateful for this group of ten that worked so very nicely together.

We painted our clay animals, which had passed through the firing process in the meantime. In the second part of the class we introduced a soft pastel technique.
We were looking at the artworks of impressionists such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who all used this technique extensively. The children could choose to draw a vase with flowers or a portrait. We will continue working with soft pastel in our future classes.

Children chose from a range of animal pictures: rabbit, elephant, horse, turtle, crocodile, bear or birds. We started by drawing them with charcoal in order to study and observe their shapes and the most important features. The sketches were supposed to be spontaneous but with plenty of guidelines. Then we created 3D animals from clay: copying the animals’ proportions, how they are standing, the structure of their skin… our clay became a sort of living matter. We were taken into a playful world where we figured out what kind of life these animals have, what they eat, where they sleep, etc.