The Country Easel
Tatton Station Road One Hundred Mile House, BC, Canada

Today was a sad day for me at the Country Easel. :( I had to say good bye to some of my Little Brushes who have been with me for the last five months. Summer is upon us, and families are getting busy! I so love teaching the students and grow very fond of them over the course of the months we spend together, and when this session finished, it was that much harder as my studio is going to have to temporarily shut down due to moving. I was blessed when Elias and Jasper presented... me with a beautiful artistic bouquet of flowers! Yes, it brought tears to my eyes. <3 Saying goodbye was actually only "Au re voir" as I fully intend to come back next summer and offer "Art in the Park" days, workshops, and other such things, as I truly don't want to say good-bye! :)

Today was the last week of Little Brushes for this session. We learned all about Emily Carr - our first Canadian artist. The students then created their replica of one of her famous paintings. They learned how to use the paint to give the impression of wind in the sky, and then they cut and painted tree trunks, a shrub, tree tops, and then textured their trunks and added shadows. The students did a fabulous job of listening to the step by step directions and produced beautiful tree paintings.

Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso were the founding fathers of Cubism. Today the Young Painterlies created their own work of Papier Colle. Braque invented Papier Colle where paper is attached to a background.

Piet Mondrian, an artist creating works in Abstract Destijl, was famous for using primary colours and straight lines to create his paintings. He would often use tape to create the designs and once he was satisfied with his idea, he would remove the tape piece by piece until he had painted the entire painting. Once he got sick with pneumonia and didn't go to the doctor. He even painted in his pyjamas while deathly ill. He friend came by and picked him up and took him to the doctors and he died four days later. Determination! The students created a Mondrian of their own using acrylic paint, black markers, and their imagination.

This week the Little Brushes learned about "Drawing With Scissors" which Matisse was famous for. Each of the students depicted the waves and sunset in their own way. Some were stormy waters, others were more calm.