Heather Keew Art

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Encouraging Your Art-loving children: Tip #3. Exploration of many art mediums

Heather Keew

These three activities will encourage your art-loving children. 

  1. Practice drawing realistically and creatively. 

  2. Exposure to good artwork. 

  3. Exploration of many art mediums.

This week I will talk about the last one, which is all about play and perseverance. 

Exploration of many art mediums!

Most children are naturally more apt to try new things than adults. Maybe because of their natural curiosity and inhibitions. Maybe because they have had less time to compare themselves and be judgmental of themselves and their abilities. Hopefully they have had less criticism and more encouragement in their efforts. This is a great time to explore new art mediums. Everyone will gravitate to a particular art medium. That is our uniqueness. 

Maybe your kids are used to marker, pencil, and watercolor and play dough. Let them try some chalk pastels, air-dry clay, or tempura or acrylic paint. They won’t know what they like until they try it. Similar to food, sometimes it takes several times of exposure, even in a different form, to the new medium before they find they like it. They might not like painting acrylic on paper, but love it on air-dry clay. They might not like the Crayola watercolors (which can be quite waxy), but find they love the intensity of a higher quality watercolor with a better brush. Change it up. Purchase new supplies for them to try to enroll them in classes that will give them these new exploring experiences along with instruction.

Purchasing Art Supplies

To sum it up briefly, purchase the middle quality. Once children are past the toddler sensory phase, in which everything is an art supply, give your children better quality supplies. They do not need to be professional of course, but a student grade or something similar will give them a much more satisfying result. I remember as a young elementary kid distinguishing what “good” crayons with lots of pigment and a smooth glide were vs. a “bad” crayon that was a waxy stick with grainy and scratchy results. Your kids will appreciate the difference and be encouraged to continue making art.

Here are a few art supply ideas to get you started: I will give some specific products I like in the next blog post. Stay tuned!

  • Sketchbook with “tooth” in the paper to let mediums lay nicely and thick enough it won’t tear with pressure. Avoid slick plastic type papers. 

  • Drawing pencils with darker tones (4B-9B) and good erasers

  • Watercolor paper or a thicker paper for watercolor. 

  • A pan of watercolors that does not contain wax

  • Brushes that come to a point or are flattened by the metal ferrule into a square tip

  • Saturated markers in different widths

  • Colored pencils

  • Chalk or oil pastels

  • Charcoal pencils or sticks

  • Colored paper, scissors, glue

  • Air-dry clay, play dough, modeling clay, or oven- baked clay

  • Yarn and fabric, needle and thread, buttons

  • Tempera or acrylic paint

Art classes

Maybe your child has the privilege of attending a school that has an art class where they get to try new mediums regularly. That’s great! You can encourage that and supplement if you’d like. Often a child might only get art class once a week or every other week. If art is a particular interest to your child, they would love any opportunities to have more one-on-one art instruction or the opportunity to learn from someone new or in a new environment with new materials. Here are a few places you can check to find more art instruction for you your child.

  • Museums often have summer camps or classes for children throughout the year.

  • Libraries host craft and art classes for little or no cost. My Greenville library even has a YouTube channel with crafts. https://www.youtube.com/@GreenvilleLibrary/search?query=art

  • Online Classes are a great way to learn. I know many kids who have favorite YouTube art channels that teach them how to draw and make art and crafts. There are multiple classes on every art medium! They don’t require travel, but expense if any, and you can watch them on your own time. The biggest down-side is that you don’t get one-on-one personal instruction. So, if you are stuck or have a question, you are often left hanging. I will probably do a later post devoted to online classes and courses.

Even if an artist doesn’t particularly offer lessons, some are eager to take a student or two in order to pour into them what they have learned. 

So, where do I start?

The choice to try a new medium is in of it self creativity. It takes bravery, but it can be exciting. Because we were created, we create. It is part of our “made in His likeness.”  We don’t know the outcome. It could be terrible at first, but it can also be beautiful. It is an experiment. We have to be curious and willing to take a risk. The worst that can happen is that some supplies get used or ruined and the art experiment ends up in the trash. One of the best motivators that lodged in my brain from art school is that “I probably would not have been able to make this greater artwork without having made the not-so-good artworks first.” Practice makes better. This is great for us adults too. We will not grow as fast unless we try new things with our art. 

So, how do I choose what to explore? What inspires me (or your kids) now? Art at museums, art supplies, a particular subject matter or book character? Start there and make a mark!