First Rio Class

After a long wait I was finally able to launch my first Art en Casa class here in Rio. The children came from just down the road in Joa, some all the way from Leblon and Copacabana. We kicked off with an Underwater theme, starting off by making aquariums from old detergent boxes. We also went over color names as half the class are Portugues speakers.      
                                                                We finished off with a collage making a rainbow fish.

                                 Thank you so much to all the new parents and children who have joined us !

New Art Studio

After a year of construction we have turned nothing but dirt into a beautiful studio. This was always a dream to have a perfect Art space for kids to come and feel relaxed, happy and creative. Open, bright with nature right beside you. I look forward to filling this space with young creative little people. 

Moved to RIO

We have just moved to Rio and are living in a great house just outside of town in Joa up from Posto 2 in Barra. Once we are properly settled I hope to start the next chapter of Art in Casa, Rio. Our new home even has a whole empty floor to build a proper art studio/ classroom so I promise to keep you updated. 

Time Off

As most of you know sadly for now I have had to stop Art en Casa as in August me and Jose will be having our first baby. I have greatly enjoyed the last 3 years of meeting many new young artists and forming friendships with their parents. I think of the children often and hope one day soon to start up again. Please feel free to e mail me if you ever need any creative ideas for your little ones.

un beso grande 

Food Art

 Last week we used food to help us get creative. We used fruit and vegetables to make a funny face then used collage to make pieces of fruit to stick into a basket. Next we dyed pasta and cheerios to make necklaces. The children loved to thread on this larger scale much better than the sowing last week. Sadly only a week left before the holidays as most ex-pats head out of Ba for the winter.

Underwater

Underwater madness took place this week. We started off making our very own aquariums by cutting open and painting an old cereal box. We then drew and cut out some fish, hanging them up with some thread. In background we added more fish and on the ground some shells and starfish. I then tried to have the children sow up some 3D fish from 2 pieces of rubber card stuffed with newspaper but this was a disaster as needles kept falling off and many knots formed so in the end we had to give up and just staple them together ! We finished with an underwater collage. 

Life drawing/Famous artists

 Life drawing is the best way to get children to improve their observation and basic art skills. I usually set up 3 or 4 simple objects in the middle of the table and then explain to the children that they must copy what they see being very carful to draw things in proportion to each other, focus on 'size' of each object. Manouk who is a very gifted 5 year old drew a lovely piece which she then painted. After our drawing exercise we looked at famous artists like Van Gogh and had a go painting over a basic photocopy of his work Starry Night.