The Giving Tree: CMW Art Kids at Art Basel

This month was pretty action-packed for our team! From Thursday 15th-Sunday 18th May, we set up camp at our Art Kids Space in the lovely Hong Kong Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai. 

Colour My World was involved once again with Art Basel this year, introducing Art, Drama and Creative Inspiration to children from 4-10 years in our specialist Art Kids space and through our wonderfully insightful Kids Explore Art Exhibition Tours, all led by a very capable cohort of talented, expert staff. 

Working together with Art Basel, we developed an action-packed, colourful weekend of activities, games and creative learning to ensure that 2014 was our best year yet! Finally, after months of hard work, dedication and planning, all of the hard work paid off.

Our theme for this year was 'The Giving Tree,' based on the book by Shel Silverstein; about a little boy who loves a tree and the tree who loves him back as he grows up into a man. 

'The Giving Tree' by Shel Silverstein

Inspired by the book, our talented sculptor and sculpture teacher Ian built our very own Colour My World Giving Tree, on which some lucky children would get to hang their very own decorated leaves, bugs, hanging character ornaments and most important of all…wishes! 

You see, this wasn't just any old Giving Tree - this was a MAGIC WISHES Giving Tree! Our budding little artists created their own individual pieces of art and then helped us to decorate our lovely tree with their very own magic wishes, which as we all know, will definitely come true (as long as you say the magic rhyme, of course). Do you know it? Maybe you can make some wishes of your own at home!

Oh lovely, MAGIC Giving Tree, 

I have a wish for you.

I want to make a wish, wish, wish

I WISH it would come true! 

Our visitors left their wishes wrapped around the Wishing Tree for extra wish power (there's strength in numbers), so we wanted to share some of the best ones with you at home. We hope you find them as funny as we did - there was a lot of laughter at the end-of-day packing-up! (Just wait until you see the last one). Please like and share or leave us a comment below! 

'I wish all my toys are alive'

Not a big fan of homework, we see…:P

You and me both...

'I want to be the best student in school' (good wish!)

This kid just had to make sure the Giving Tree got the message

'Dear Wish Tree, I wish I was the smartest in the World' - Gabriel

A SECOND house, that is...

**Stuffs Cheeks with Seeds**

'My wish is I can play all day' - Ian

'I wish for all the Lego in the world'

Does chocolate count? 

This kid added a diagram with dimensions, just in case.

Awww...

'Make Lovisa [my] little sister. And I will offer my bug and leaf' - Irina

Axel likes the idea of flying planes...

We hope your dream comes true, Jennifer :)

'I wish to go to the World Cup in Brazil (Football)'

'I want to have an iPad to play Minecraft after'

Here, Kitty Kitty!

'The Tree of Giving give me a Winx'

This kid just wants to make the winning shot

'I wish [for] a Crocodile Time Machine'…we really want to see that too!

'My wish is to be a composer' (another great dream)

'I wish I could live in a hotel with a swimming pool under it. Thank you Wish Tree'

We're noticing a bit of a Lego theme here...

'Wish for my Mum to be happy' (so cute!)

'I wish [that] I can see my friend before I leave'

Ahhhhh….

Because who doesn't love puppies? 

Now that's dedication. This kid should be president. 

This little artist was feeling some sibling love :) 

And finally, we thought this one was hilarious. We hope that Adrian's Mom sees the funny side...

After much debate and speculation, we realised Adrian meant 'Dad, Mom'...

We'd also like to say a big thank you to our wonderful team of  talented helpers who helped make Colour My World Art Kids and Kids Explore for Art Basel such a resounding success! Aren't they a happy bunch?

Don't forget to like and leave us a comment below if you're interested in finding out more about our specialist programmes in Visual and Performing Arts! 

Easter Art Camps: Gorgeous Gardenscapes! (7yrs +)

What can be more perfect on a hot summers day than the cool, relaxing leafy shade of a tranquil garden? Some of the most beautiful paintings in the world capture the a tranquil garden scene, or are inspired by a peaceful shady spot or outdoor space where the artist liked to relax or be inspired by the wonderful vibrant colour and variety in nature.  Our Easter Art Camp students (aged 7 years +) enjoyed creating beautiful 'gardenscapes' with Miss Bowie on folding panel wood - perfect for creating the perfect view on any wall in the house!

To create their gardenscapes, our young artists studied some works by their favourite great artists, taking inspiration from their use of shapes, forms and composition in order to create their own gorgeous gardens. Students learned how to use line, weight and texture to create cheerful riots of colour in their folding summery garden paintings full of flowers and summer plants. Inspired by the wonderful work of Impressionist painter Claude Monet (1840-1926), our  young Creatives experimented with a series of looser paint strokes in order to create an 'illusion' of life and flowers in full bloom, just like Monet did with his paintings of the gardens at Giverny, France over a hundred years ago. 

Irises in Monet's Garden (1900)
Claude Monet 

Composition, colour and light are three of the most important elements in a successful painting. In Monet's garden series, he often used a focal point such as a bridge,  a tree, or even a row of flower beds to create a sense of balance, harmony and tranquility. A well-compositioned piece creates the feeling of 'space', 'light' and draws the eye into the painting, leading the viewer's eye around the canvas as though telling a story, chapter by chapter. Looking at one of Monet's gardens, you can feel as though you are looking 'out' onto  the world, instead of into a flat canvas. 

See how wonderfully he has captured this quaint little 'Japanese' bridge below? By using a muted colour palette of greens and blues and softer hues, he invites us in to relax in the sun-dappled cool of this shady little nook in a summer-time garden. The effect of 'light' seeming to come through the trees is created by carefully positioning and  layering flecks of lighter greens, blues, yellows and creams on darker layers beneath, while the 'Water Lillies' are simply daubs of cream, blue, yellow and fleshy pink layered with short, upward stabs of green and yellow ochre for the 'fronds' and lake 'grass'. The willow trees in the background are described only in long vertical strokes, with no more detail than some additional tones. Yet, we feel as though we are standing in the shade of a tree, looking upon them with a light breeze at our back. 

Water Lillies and Japanese Bridge (1899)
Claude Monet

Just like the artists that inspired them, our students learned how to carefully mix their palettes and choose their colours to create a 'story' within their paintings. 

Learning how to create a strong visual narrative is a very important aspect of student work, and enables the young artist to make better-informed decisions with weight, balance and form as well as over-all composition. 

After studying composition, form, line, colour and light in exercises such as these wonderful 'garden-scapes', students are able to express their ideas successfully through their choices in colour, texture, technique, lighting, etc. 


This colourful 'Garden' painting was created by one of our student artists. She has chosen to use a variety of techniques, from pointillist dots to create the impression of 'bushes' to a longer daubs and brush strokes which capture the essence of longer leaves and dangling fronds of overhanging boughs. 

Look how beautifully she has arranged her chosen composition - we feel as though we are looking out through a natural window frame made of flowers and plants, with sweet little pansy faces turned upwards towards the golden rectangle of 'glass light' in the middle. See how she gives the impression of tall, willowy hyacinths in the bottom left corner with just a few brush-strokes in blue and white? 

The resulting mix has dried to create wonderful hues of lilac and mauve, with their tall elegant stems decorated in leafy greens and blues. We really loved the joyous riot of fuchsia and lime in the top left corner - what a glorious pop of colour! And of course it is expertly balanced by the tall, upwardly reaching lines of the hyacinths and creepers, the long-leaved stems surrounding the pansies as they lead the eye upwards to the heart of the painting. What wonderful work. Brava!

We also loved the beautiful colours chosen by this student (featured as our cover image this post). We thought her Fuchsia, Wine and Powder-Blue coloured Hydrangeas really POPPED, and we just had to show you a close-up. 

Note the careful linework using the blunt end of her brush to create the delicate white, mauve and yellow detailing on these gorgeous little garden globes as they perch on their pretty stems. 

The miniature flecks of gold and grey create a soothing cadence in the smallest flowers on the very bottom right, which frames the whole composition beautifully. We love the way she has chosen to keep her background so minimal, allowing the natural grain of the wood to show through. 

The colours she has chosen to lay on top are vibrant and yet sophisticated, creating a well-conceived and surface-pattern worthy piece. Kath Kidson, watch out! 

Flower Garden (1907)
Pinckney Maricius Simons

What is Impressionism?

Impressionism was a movement that began in Paris around the 1860's. It means that instead of having to paint every detail of their subject exactly 'true to life' like it would have been traditionally done, artists experimented with creating an 'impression' of the subject instead - more like a quick or fleeting 'idea' or 'moment,' kind of like what a photographer might create today. To the Impressionists, it was more important to capture the feeling or emotion behind a moment or action than to create the kind of fine detail you would expect to find in a painting by Da Vinci or Caravaggio, for example. The freedom of movement and form in paintings by the Impressionists is what really inspired the beginning of 'modern art'. Even though today, we are used to seeing art in different ways, at the time, this way of thinking was revolutionary! 


Who were the Impressionists? 

The most famous were Monet, Manet, Renoir, Sisley, Morisot and Pisarro, who all lived around the same time and would have known of and been inspired by each other's works. We also commonly consider Georges Seurat (1859-1891), the famous pointillist painter, to have been directly influenced by Impressionism. 

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (1884)
Georges Seurat

Woman in a Garden (1867)
Claude Monet

The Garden (In The Park) (1875)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Student Artists carefully mix their colour palettes to perfection this week 

We think our young artists did a marvellous job this week. What do you think? Don't forget to tell us what you think and leave us a comment in the section below!