My students were getting kind of tired of working on portraits so we returned to something that most of them really love doing because it is easy and cheap for them to do in their own time when they don't have access to the free materials that we keep here at the art center.

While "real" artists might consider this a rather lazy way of doing art, I like to encourage my students to be happy with their results and not get frustrated when we are working on skills. In my own life, I got better at knowing how to do things with latex and even oil paints by practicing with pencil outlines, followed by felt-tip ink outlines, and then finishing the scene off with watercolors. The students all seem to enjoy this process as well and everyone has fun. The fun part of it is the most important part IMO.

We start with a few images of a real world scene on the projector and then we look at them for a while and give it time to "soak in." Then I turn it off and ask them to re-create their own idea about what they just looked at.

Traditional country scenes have been popular in my class in the past, so we just stick with that. Cityscapes are easier because it mostly involves 90 degree angles, but I find that quaint small villages have much greater opportunity. In the above picture you can see that a student has already completed the pencil and felt-tip pen outline. If you look closely you can see where there were some erasures and that is fine! It is all part of the process.

Then we move on to some basic coloring and while we do encourage them to try to stay in the lines, this can be complicated with watercolors so if there is a little bit of "leakage" that is fine, it will just be unique to your own style!

By the time we get to the finished product, lots of little details have been added in that perhaps the artist didn't even imagine at the start. Everyone has their own unique way of drawing nature and I enjoy how each student has a different way of coloring trees or deciding where they are going to add windows and what not.

By the time it is all done I can see that most of the students are hesitant to declare the work "complete." They always seem as though they want to add a bit more but since our classes are only 90 minutes long in total, there is at least some limit on when it needs to be complete. I thought this student did a very good job and I was impressed with the work. The student was as well and that is really what this is all about.

In particular I was impressed that without prompting from me, the student added shading from the sun and where the shadows would be. This is something we worked on earlier in the year and I intentionally didn't remind them to see if they would remember. I like it when my students are able to do things without having their hands held through the entire process.

While my methods are not necessarily the "best" way of doing things, I want the students to understand that basics and that is what I give them. I am quite certain that some of these students will eventually surpass my abilities because if I was one of the best, I would be a rich artist. It is not my goal to make money from these classes but instead to inspire young minds to be creative and to pursue art in the traditional sense. While some of the parents use these classes as free babysitting, most of the kids actually want to be there and this makes me happy.

If you are not an artist but would like to try your hand at it, I encourage you to begin with watercolors. You only need them, a pen, a pencil and an eraser and off you go!

_{unless otherwise indicated all images are my own}