{"id":3581,"date":"2024-03-10T17:32:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-10T17:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/patriciabaileyauthor.com\/?p=3581"},"modified":"2024-02-26T17:59:16","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T17:59:16","slug":"embrace-your-secret-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/patriciabaileyauthor.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/10\/embrace-your-secret-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"Embrace Your Secret Artist"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post first appeared at the From the Mixed-Up Files blog.<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n

Some time ago, a friend from grade school texted me a photo of an old news clipping he had found among his grandfather\u2019s papers. It was a group photo of my friend and I and a couple of other kids who had won our fourth grade art contest. I was surprised at how clearly I remembered that day and the days the leading up to it when we worked on our pieces. All the time spent deciding what to make, trying to get the lines right, choosing the colors, and my own surprise that it was shaping up to be a pretty decent picture. I also remember that winning was a total shock, since I never thought of myself as particularly good at art. I even remember the prize \u2013 a Nestle Crunch bar \u2013 my very first, and how I doled it out to myself, eating little pieces of it for days to prolong the joy.<\/p>\n

\"\"What I don\u2019t remember is why I quit drawing and coloring and making art after that. Why I don\u2019t have a single memory of art making after that day other than a vague sense of being really miserable in a middle school drawing class years later.<\/p>\n

Which is why I\u2019m a little surprised to find myself now, after all of these years, picking up pens and colored pencils, and even watercolors again. Mostly, I\u2019m doodling. Drawing funny little cartoon animals, trees, and swirls of watercolor that sometimes look like something you\u2019d see in the world, but mostly look like a blend of colors.\u00a0 Safe, small snippets of artish somethings that are (dare I say it?) kind of fun.<\/p>\n

Which got me thinking that there must be some other kid (or adult) out there who might be looking for a kind of fun, totally safe way to play around with those pens and crayons and paints again. So, I decided to take a look at some fun art books for kids. Books that might help you or someone you know embrace the secret artist inside.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Art Lab for Kids: 52 Creative Adventures in Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Paper, and Mixed Media-For Budding Artists of All Ages by Susan Schwake (Author) <\/span><\/a> Rainer Schwake (Photographer) <\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n

Art Lab for Kids <\/i>is a refreshing source of wonderful ideas for creating fine art with children. This step-by-step book offers 52 fun and creative art projects set into weekly lessons, beginning with drawing, moving through painting and printmaking, and then building to paper collage and mixed media. <\/b><\/p>\n

Each lesson features and relates to the work and style of a contemporary artist and their unique style. The labs can be used as singular projects <\/b>or to build up to a year of hands-on fine art experiences<\/b>. Grouped by medium, the labs are set up loosely to build skills upon the previous ones; however, you can begin anywhere.<\/p>\n

Have fun exploring:<\/p>\n