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Journalling, Kid Style


 
 
 

I've been teaching journalling classes to kids for about 5 years now. We meet on alternate weekends in the back room at Little Monsters Toy Store (in downtown Lake Orion).

 
Not every child is comfortable expressing themselves with strict verbage or writing a la old fashioned diary-style. And many others, while interested in art, are intimidated by the idea of keeping a sketchbook.

 
But give them a blank book, some basic supplies and take all the rules away: ask them to create pages that include what they see in their head and what they experience around them, introduce basic art concepts and theory disguised as experimentation, and just get out of their way. Quickly.

 
The above is a spread from our last creative journalling session, where we painted with markers. We experimented with a variety of brands and worked on wet, dry and damp pages. We dribbled with paintbrushes, slopped and splattered, and even pushed the color about with a blow dryer.

 
This student started her page with stripes/decoration in the margins (a zentangling technique), pulling a story out of the puddled colors that ultimately developed (she saw ruby slippers and a meandering sidewalk, and then spun her own version of The Wizard of Oz).

 
In the meanwhile, she learned basic color mixing, fully embraced the idea of working in layers and was pleasantly surprised by the art of accidental markmaking.

 
My next kids' class (aged 5-15) is this Sunday, from 2-3.Let me know if you have a student who would be interested.
 

And I've got a grownUPs class this Thursday, same place, 6-8pm.

 
Thanks, as always, for looking at and sharing my artwork,
Kim



On Line Classes

 
I am asked nearly every day if I have considered putting journalling class content online. The answer is a resounding yes.

 
It's just a matter of working out the logistics.

 
Which sounds like a great project for the winter months.

 
Meanwhile, I encourage you to visit Dawn Devries Sokol's** website - she's gearing up for NaNoJouMo in November (National Nonstop Journalling Month) and will offer a month's worth of prompts to get you started. And I believe she's also got a class that will carry you journalling through the holidays, too.

 
And if you are interested in doing more journalling research, I have an entire bookshelf of recommendations over on GoodReads.com .

 
**Dawn's one of those artists responsible for getting me hooked on journalling. I've taken a number of her classes and always had a good time!
 
 
 
 
 
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