Children’s art exhibition at the “Spring Birds” fair

On May 11, there was a spring fair, which took place by the St. John Chrysostom church, Calgary. The fair was organized to help and support the church. Our parish has a great historic building, which nevertheless requires maintenance, this is why, from time to time, the parishioners organize these charity fairs. You can take a look at the history of our parish and the photo gallery, as well as the article about the spring fair at this website: http://calgary-orthodox.ca/events/ptichij-dvor-11-maya-2013g/

There was a concert and traditional Russian food. Aside from a plethora of other things, there was also an arts exhibition of kid’s works. Since the theme for the fair was “Spring Birds”, the children of course drew birds and their interpretations of spring. For some of the kids this was their first experience with art exhibitions, however all of the works presented there were all beautiful without exception. I would like to thank the church’s priest Father Stan as well as to the Sisterhood of St. Barbara for the opportunity to exhibit children’s works and for the organization of such a great event. I will put all of the kid’s artwork in my blog’s gallery. 

“Let’s Draw Happiness”

Spring finally made it to Calgary as well. With the sun shining bright, the flowers started springing up, everything turns green. I have only been living in Calgary for 5 years now, and I still can’t get used to the swiftness of its spring. Piles of snow coupled with cold wind, overnight turn into green grass and hot summer sun and all of a sudden everyone is wearing shorts. Only a couple of days ago there wasn’t even a sign of any leaves on trees and now they are rustling on every branch there is. Everything is growing and springing to life so fast, you can almost hear it. 

There is so much that happened over spring, that I don’t even know where to start…First I would like to talk about the international arts exhibition called “Let’s Draw Happiness”.

Everything began when I first stumbled upon the website of Mila Naumova and…I got sucked in. http://www.mogut-vse.ru/ludy/ She is great! Working on the program of my art lessons, I sometimes peek at what other teachers do to solve a certain type of problem. When I saw the consistency and the presentation of the materials, the amount of passion and love Mila puts in her work, I thought “That’s how it is done” and became a constant visitor on her website. I took a couple of her lessons to teach to my students and even bought her book to lend to those people, who has the wrong impression about their inability to draw, even though they have always dreamed of it. 

I have always admired people that love what they do and are willing to share that passion and energy with others and this is precisely what Mila Naumova does. As a regular visitor of her website I was given the opportunity to send my student’s works to participate in an international art contest “Let’s Draw Happiness”. And now I’m sharing this happiness with you. All this certificates are in Russian language, sorry about that. The site is new http://art-grd.com , but very interesting.  

Spring is coming

 It is still cold, snowy...but anyway spring is coming! My student create the spring mood in my studio. And I would like to share this mood with you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!















                                                                                                                                                  Heart, hearts ... What else can you come up with new?It turns out that even  such unpretentious character you can play with. So, draw a heart with a pencil and  ...














Watercolor on wet paper, on dry paper, play with shape, color, blow drops of paint with straw, do not forget about the background, pour salt and  etc. 



Just show how does  it works  to children and  then they will create their masterpieces. They will be able not only enjoy the process but also be proud of result.

January 2013

Time goes so quickly.
January 2013 coming to an end.
My students continue to work in watercolor technique. Someone  have just started to develop their skills to use a brush, mix colors  and some are conquering new peaks for themselves - composition and colors for the  still life.


Nice scenery, colorful clowns - this is what we could see.
In fact, these pictures are full of  hard work of understanding the world around and the material that was used by the child.











Special exercises help children learn  how to use the brush and watercolor paint different way, visual material helps set a creative  atmosphere, and then the magic begins...



 We can see the development of the the link between  that the child saw and wanted to draw with the skills he received. Spots on the wet paper turn into a fluffy kitten or funny puppy, white strips of paper turn into the white trunks of birch trees, brush prints in many ways become a silhouette of a tree or a sunset in the Down-Town.

 My students always inspire me, encounter ideas,give me different solutions to solve the problem. They open something new not only for themselves but also for me. Learn from  your  children to look for new around you  and  be surprising!

Yours,
Alla







P.S. January has been the memorial month for me.

Alena Martynova was my teacher and great artist. She created pictures, icons and "Dream World" for people. She felt really happy when people enjoyed her work and got inspired by the energy of her paintings. Let's make her happy again looking at her works now when she is in Heaven. Here you will find just a small part of her paintings, as many as we managed to collect.

http://alenamartynova.blogspot.ca

Death is only a part of our life. Oblivion is worse than death especially for artists.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2013 New Year!

I wish to all my current and potential students strong health, lots of happiness and success. Always live with a sense of wonder and remain open to all of beauty and goodness around you !
Have a wonderful holiday!
Your Alla

P.S. Small reminder: 8th of January 2013 is the first day, when I am going to start art lessons  after winter break.

Hi, everyone! Look outside. It is cold and snowy ... let's color your world!

My blog has some changes (thank you to my friend Marina - ERM Tech Lab). Now it is organized well.

Go to my gallery. I have just added a lot of pictures that have been made by my students during the dry media session.

Thank you,
your Alla.