Week 4
In attendance 16 artists
This week we have been relaxing, I have not asked the artists to push their boundaries or to try anything new. (I thought I would give them a week off) this weeks focus was still life (not my favorite, but…) with a difference. It was such a lovely day and the sun was shining I introduced the session as still life but the twist was the artists had to find their own. I gave them a pair of scissors and sent them off into the park to collect things. It was lovely to have a wander and work as a team in choosing their items. As we were looking for items people shared their knowledge of plants and trees with each other. People found that they could chat about other things than art. It was good for the people who aren’t that confident in art but have knowledge they could share about another subject. (This gives them confidence).
The group discussed how the still life should be set up so that everyone had a good view and the items were placed interestingly. I also added a couple of random objects from home a china dog, a patterned scarf and a toy soldier. I encouraged the group to just choose a part that they liked and not to try the whole thing. They then chose their preferred medium. One lady had a brilliant idea and she drew the shadows that a leaf cast by the sun although she did have to cope with a lot of clouds, she produced a beautiful piece.
This week we had 2 new people start, everyone that comes seems so grateful that there is somewhere for them to do their art in a group where they can just give themselves 2 hours to fill with art and meet new people who they can talk creatively with. I am very lucky to be able to facilitate this I give individual time to everyone in my session and make sure if people don’t have ideas that I can sit down with them and help them discover an idea from themselves. This week a lady very shyly asked me if I could teach her to draw a leaf, so I sat down with her and explained about looking more than drawing, she drew the leaf very well and then wanted to paint it. She did this with great care and really understood that the leaf was not just one king of green and it also had browns in it. She was so pleased with herself when she had finished. It was a brilliant first attempt. I cannot tell you how proud I am of the group they have come together very well and hopefully are building long lasting friendships.
I have just purchased a lot of new art equipment so this week we will be exploring new things oil pastels, acrylics, fimo, lino and many more I think shall create a lucky dip just for fun!
Things to think about are Arts for health at the art school (volunteers) and dementia and imagination and their countrywide project. How can I tap into this and how are we going to reach the harder to reach people in the community.
