The New School- artist lecture

On January 10th and 11th, 2012, I was invited to The New School in Syracuse, NY to give an artist presentation to children in grades K-8. I spoke about my work as an illustrator, creating architectural images for colleges and businesses, as well as pursuing a career as a children's book illustrator.

After a delightful question and answer period, I demonstrated the wet and dry watercolor painting techniques to one group of young artists. To practice what they had learned, students were asked to paint a very special railroad lantern that I brought in especially for the occasion. I explained that, as an artist, we paint the shadows and highlights of an object, which can be many different kinds of shapes. So, if we look at these shapes and their color, it becomes easier to paint something that might appear very difficult. By using a red light source inside the lantern, students were able to see these shapes and color changes very easily and were able to create their own works of art of the lantern. The delight on the children's faces in accomplishing this difficult task was very rewarding to all. By introducing this masterly technique early on in their artistic development, the students have successfully begun a new way of seeing the world around them.

On my second day at the school I worked with the remaining group of children, grades K-3, demonstrating the same wet and dry watercolor painting techniques, but using a bowl of fruit as a still life. Students were first asked to block in the shapes of the different fruits with one color and then add small lines, or dots, of another color to create areas of shadows between the fruits. Once again, the students were very enthusiastic and were able to paint remarkable still lifes.

Thank you to The New School Staff for extending the invitation to come and be a part of this special workshop. I hope to see the work of these fabulous artists flourish in the years to come!

For more information about The New School, please visit their website.

http://www.newschool-syr.org/index.shtml