The annual program’s drawing and painting classes are the core program offered at Alicia’s Creative Art Studio. A regular class involves drawing first and painting to finish the piece but there are many drawings that just stay as drawings which is determined by every exercise that presents itself in the class.

It’s very important to understand that learning takes place with consistency so the children who commit to the program once a week are the children who go on to excel week after week in their skill set. The drawing is the foundation to developing skills which opens up the child’s mind to the possibility of achieving anything.

The children will learn and develop their fundamental skills utilizing willow charcoal and a kneaded eraser. I choose charcoal to work with as it allows the student to explore and relax into the drawing as charcoal is very forgiving. The student feels their way around a drawing without feeling that they are doing it wrong, which slowly builds confidence. I encourage my students to embrace mistakes as in my option, “mistakes are beautiful opportunities to learn and understand what works for the individual and what doesn't.”

And as everyone is different and have their own way of learning, “mistakes are the true journey of a great student!” The studio has many of the lessons I teach the kids hung on the walls to always remind them of these sayings and one of my favorites speaks volumes:

“Learning is not difficult but the willingness to learn is.”

by Alicia

Drawing is more direct than Painting and it requires a lot more focus as its immediate, which if done correctly, uses more energy. So as a teacher, I just like giving the kids a balance and color gives that to the student. The children really look forward to painting as its squishy and fun to mix colors where they only use the primary colors and black and white to create all the other colors on the color wheel.

In the year-round program, the kids nominate what challenge the class will do as I print out their names, put it in a bag, and draw out a name. The winner that is drawn then picks the challenge for the class and that will process will happen until everybody gets chosen. I’ve discovered in my teaching that it’s a really nice way to show understanding between them and it teaches them, as I call it, “diversity learning” because what their fellow peers might pick they might not generally pick for themselves so we get to cover a lot of different subject matters and learn how to do lots of different things which is wonderful. I love it when the students ask if they are allowed to get creative with the challenge at hand and I must say, most of the time we are just rolling around in laughter. The students come up with such fun things to add to their artwork, and I swear by this method of teaching as the children allow me to teach them 100 percent just because the atmosphere is so happy and nurturing. This type of learning environment allows the kids to bond as they are always sharing ideas with one another and working together which is such a healthy way to developing skills and friendships over the time at Alicia’s Creative Art Studio.