1. What essential materials are needed?

Acrylic paint, masking tape, brushes, A4 paper, old rug, water (clean brush) and APRON!

Upgrade the gear as you fancy (acrylic paper etc)

Acrylic because if you paint thick it feel like oil painting, if you paint thin it feels like watercolour, most importantly if you spill it you can wash with water!

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2. Any basic knowledge needed to follow the sessions?

Best to learn and try make the colour wheel with Red Yellow Blue primary colours

Try follow the Paul Klee colour session very important things in it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFeQ8P_mQFQ

(sorry this is in chinese only but pretty straight forward)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiU2p-ZFu38

This is the Paul Klee session

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3. What age and level are the artists in your class?

Most 3-5, some 7-11, some mid 30, some 60+, all beginner, you can see all their work on each blog.

All works shown are done in the class (around 45 mins)

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4. How to benefit the most?

Learn from master sessions best to do with the kid together if they are too young (<4)

Playful creative sessions anyone should do independently, very important for training creativity

I try make a few clear learning points for each session so hope my little one and others can really learn something.

Look at others work on the session links - we can learn plenty from them!

* I added a new series of Narrative painting learn Chinese characters

Please see the details on question 9.

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5. Any Important advice?

Try mix colours with red yellow blue + white if possible at all times.

Make repetitive things different

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6. Who did the demonstrations on the videos?

For the learn from master session, I try to let my 3 year old monster do as much as possible herself under my instructions. When she run away that is when you see a big hand doing the painting. 

For the playful creative sessions, mostly it is my little monster's hand, very important to preserve their originality and train their creative thinking habit.

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7. What other things are you trying to teach within the class?

I try to embed more depth with other discipline such as music and philosophy.

How music and art are linked, not only circle of 5th vs colour wheel, but also the structure (Sonata form peak vs golden section activity), harmony and balance (colour reactions opposite colours like Tonic and dominant) structural chords (large colour patches), articulation (staccato vs legato marks), tension and resolution etc..

Also how perspective make us more humble to see things differently, how we correct things when mistakes are make, or make "bad" situation work our way.

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8. Why you always want them to use all the colours?

First I think it is important for them to learn how to make colours and make as often as possible.

Second I think it is like music, a lovely piece usually go through every note in that key to give enough richness.

 

9. What is the Narrative painting and Chinese character series?

Chinese characters have the magic quality of abstract painting ( or perhaps I should really say the reverse). We start a new series of classes which we will use the techniques we tried to paint narrative images and learn some Chinese characters which come from the visual image. We will do the image based on the story of a nursery rhyme and do a little English phonics revision for young kids too. The session is to make them think narrative composition, creative exaggeration, understand the root of Chinese character and paint it to help remember it, also practice the painting skills they acquired and use imagination. Also a bit of singing too!

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