Sketchbook classes for kids & teens

When the weather starts warming up I head out of the classroom and into town or into parks to take my students for a sketching adventure. An hour of sketching in the outdoors is always magical.

I began to sketch every day moments from my life about ten years ago and pretty soon afterwards, I started teaching sketchbook workshops to adults and then to teens and kids. These are popular classes as people recognize that it is a way to be creative on a regular basis without the pressure of creating “Art.” And that it is a unique way of recording our day to day world. It improves our hand to eye skills, increases our observation skills and connects us to our world in a deep and joyful way.

Young artists and teens get so enthusiastic about sketching once I show them a few techniques. I'm thrilled to see their response to this experience. Developing a habit of visually documenting one's life can be an extremely rewarding, life long habit. 

This summer I'm offering two summer camps for sketching. For more information on the sketching workshop for 9 - 12 year olds, click here. For more information on the sketching workshop for teens, click here. Art supplies are included in my summer camps, but if your kids and teens want their own supplies, I’ve put together a list of my favorite supplies for sketching. The supplies are listed here with links to Amazon for your convenience.  

If you would like to see some of my sketchbooks, click here.

I believe that through art and play adults and children alike are able to understand their world and to establish connections to different areas in their life. Through art we are better able to understand and appreciate the world around us. 

The Wild Beasts

For the last project of the school year, I taught my kid and teen students aboutFauvism. This art movement focused on the expressive use of color to create mood and express meaning. 

Fauvism (French for "the wild beasts") was a derogatory term used by art critics for the style of a group of early twentieth-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values of traditional art. The group of artists embraced the term! 

Fauvism began around 1904 and only lasted a few years, but its influence is still seen today. The leaders of the movement were Henri Matisse, Paul Gaugin and André Derain. Les Fauves believed that color should be used to express the artist’s feelings about a subject, rather than simply using realistic color to describe what something looks like.

After studying Fauvist artwork, we considered color theory and how colors make us feel. 

We used this information to created our own Fauvism inspired self portraits. I love the paintings that they kids and teens created!

It's been such a joy painting and drawing and laughing and exploring art with all of you. I wish you all a colorful summer!

Join me at Daniel Smith's in Bellevue

This Saturday I will be giving a presentation about traveling with a sketchbook at Daniel Smith's Bellevue store. I hope you will join me (it's free)!

Daniel Smith (15112 NE 24th St, Redmond, WA 98052)

Saturday June 2  11am-12:30pm

I will be sharing some of my travel sketchbooks, favorite supplies, and tips for creating travel journals.

Keeping a sketchbook while I travel is about recording my journeys in a way that makes me slow down and observe, contemplate, and sketch.  When I travel, everything seems new. My sketchbook helps me to understand and deepen what I experience and create memories. 

Traveling with a sketchbook is not about doing “good” drawings or paintings. It's about taking visual notes, being in the moment and letting your hand record what you see.

Sketching requires trust in one's ability to see, slowing down, and the desire to travel differently.

Behind every sketchbook page, there are stories and emotions, and a simple line or color will bring you right back to the moment; you will be able to see, hear, and feel what you experienced on your trips. I am in love with traveling with a sketchbook and take students to Europe and around the US to sketch and travel.

Come join me for this 90 minute presentation. I will show you my favorite travel kit and share some of my travel sketchbooks, approaches and experiences.

More outdoor sketching with my teen art students

The Park at Bothell Landing is a short walk from Cloud 9 Art School so last week, when the teens showed up for our Monday evening art class, we decided to get out and sketch in the wild. The weather was perfect and by the time we got to the park, the sun was lower in the sky, there was a slight breeze, and we could hear kids playing in the distance.

The teens loved walking around, exploring possible subjects for sketching, settling in and getting to it. 

Usually a really chatty bunch, I love seeing how quiet everyone gets once they find something they want to draw. The magic of sketching is that it forces us to slow down, look, draw, and relax. We connect with our world in a more meaningful way.

This summer I am offering a series of art camps, including Keeping a Sketchbook for kids and teens. Check out my list of summer camps here.

If you can't make my camps but think your young artists might enjoy sketching, check out my list of favorite sketching supplies for kids and teens.

Discover your world with a sketchbook in hand!

Travel Journals Presentation at Daniel Smith

On June 2 I will be giving a presentation at Daniel Smith's Bellevue store on the Art of Traveling with a Sketchbook. I refer to Daniel Smith's as the best drug dealer in town. If you are an art supplies junkie, don't go there unsupervised!! It is my favorite art supply store and I'm honored to be giving a presentation at their Bellevue location.

Saturday June 2 11am-12:30pm
Free Presentation
Daniel Smith Bellevue
15112 NE 24th St.
Redmond, WA 98052

I will share my travel sketchbooks, favorite supplies, and tips for creating travel journals. 

Keeping a sketchbook while I travel is about recording my journeys in a way that makes me slow down and observe, contemplate, and sketch.  When I travel, everything seems new. My sketchbook helps me to understand and deepen what I experience and create memories. 

Traveling with a sketchbook is not about doing “good” drawings or paintings. It's about taking visual notes, being in the moment and letting your hand record what you see. Sketching requires trust in one's ability to see, slowing down, and the desire to experience our travels differently.

Behind every sketchbook page, there are stories and emotions, and a simple line or color will bring you right back to the moment; you will be able to see, hear, and feel what you experienced on your trips. I am in love with traveling with a sketchbook and take students to Europe and around the US to sketch and travel as often as I can!

Come join me for this 90 minute presentation. I will show you my favorite travel kit and share some of my travel sketchbooks, approaches and experiences.

I hope you will join me!

Summer Camps!

I have a great line up of summer camps for kids and teens this summer. They are starting to fill up so don't wait to register your young artists!

Register here.

KEEPING A SKETCHBOOK for 9 - 12 YEAR OLDS
July 9 - 13 4pm - 6pm
$125
Join me for a weeklong workshop on developing the practice of keeping a sketchbook. Students will focus on using both words and drawings to explore their world. We will explore how to see like an artist and develop basic drawing and watercolor skills. We will learn how to make drawing a habit and incorporate it into your everyday life by filling up sketchbooks with every day experiences. Your sketchbook is the story of your life.  Supplies will be provided. 

WATERCOLORS for 9 - 12 YEAR OLDS
July 16 - 20 4pm - 6pm
$125
Discover the magic of watercolor painting! Learn about watercolor techniques in a fun, nurturing atmosphere. You'll be amazed at how fast you progress. Learn to see like an artist, develop basic drawing and brushstroke skills. We will paint still life paintings, animals, and landscapes. Supplies will be provided. 

COLOR PENCILS for 9 - 12 YEAR OLDS
July 23 - 27 4pm - 6pm
$125
Discover the magic of color pencils! Learn about techniques in a fun, nurturing atmosphere. You'll be amazed at how fast you progress. Learn to see like an artist, develop basic drawing and color pencil skills. We will paint still life paintings, animals, and landscapes. Supplies will be provided. 

KEEPING A SKETCHBOOK for TEENS
July 30 - August 3  4pm - 6pm
$125 Join me for a weeklong workshop on developing the practice of keeping a sketchbook. Students will focus on using both words and drawings to explore their world. We will explore how to see like an artist and develop basic drawing and watercolor skills. We will learn how to make drawing a habit and incorporate it into your everyday life by filling up sketchbooks with every day experiences. Your sketchbook is the story of your life. Supplies will be provided.  

REALISTIC DRAWING for TEENS
August 6 - 10  10am - 1pm
$135
Drawing is the foundation of the visual arts and anyone can learn to draw. This class will build a solid foundation of drawing skills to be able to draw realistically! Charlene will guide students through the process of developing drawing skills to render realistically using line and contour, shape and form, light and shadow, proportion and perspective. Principles of composition will also be covered. Supplies will be provided. 

WATERCOLORS for TEENS
August 20 - 24 4pm - 6pm
$125
Discover the magic of watercolor painting! Learn about watercolor techniques in a fun, nurturing atmosphere. You'll be amazed at how fast you progress. Learn to see like an artist, develop basic drawing and brushstroke skills. We will paint still life paintings, animals, and landscapes.Supplies will be provided. 

The instructors at Cloud 9 have put together an exciting line up of summer camps: art, comics, crafts, yoga and more! If my camps don't work for your schedule, check out the list of Cloud 9 summer camps by clicking here. 

For a downloadable catalog of our summer camps, click here.

Don't delay. Camps fill up quickly!

Please share our catalog of summer camps with all your kids, grandkids, family and friends.

Registrations are open and we look forward to a creative and fun summer with you all!

Please visit www.cloud9artschool.com for more information about the school and all the classes we offer for adults, kids and teens.

At Cloud 9, we are a joyful community focused on creativity and discovering our world. Cloud 9 Art School is committed to being a place where children, teens and adults find inspiration, learn, and have fun in a relaxed, professional studio environment. 

Come learn, have fun, and be inspired!

Book review: The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds by John Muir Laws

I recently taught a workshop on sketching birds. Although I rarely use a "textbook" for my classes, for this one I asked everyone to buy  The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds by John Muir Laws. Every week we studied a chapter from the book to complement the studies we did in class. This is definitely the best book on the topic of drawing birds but it is also one of the better art books I've come across.

Written and illustrated by artist and naturalist John Muir Laws this book is a tribute not only to teaching art but also to birds: their lives, structure, behavior and details. John Muir Laws doesn't just focus on technique but shares information about the scientific study of birds and natural history. In a message that is true to my heart, John Muir Laws promotes drawing as a vehicle for seeing.

As Laws writes, ''To draw feathers, you must understand how feathers grow, overlap, and insert into the body. To create the body, you must have an understanding of the bird's skeletal structure. To pose this skeleton, you must be able to perceive the energy, intention, and life of the bird.'' 

Chapters included:
  Bird Drawing Basics
  Mastering Bird Anantomy
  Details and Tips for Common Birds
  Birds in Flight
  Field Sketching
  Materials and Techniques

Divided into logical chapters that easily lead from one aspect of drawing birds to the next, my students were all so enthusiastic about this book.

In the future, when I teach this workshop again, I will review the last chapter, Materials and Techniques, first. It is so full of helpful tips and information that I would've made it chapter one!

This book will inspire you not just to draw birds but to use drawing as a way to connect more deeply with your world. Laws delivers what he promises: ''drawing birds opens you to the beauty of the world.''  The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds  is great for both beginners and seasoned artists. I can't recommend it enough!

Paris, Los Angeles, London & Chicago at Cloud 9

My 9 - 12 year old art class took on the challenge of painting murals of four cities in our kids' studio.

They quickly agreed on Paris, Los Angeles, London and Chicago as the cities they wanted to feature. Then they each got to work sketching landmarks and scenes that would capture those cities.

Then came the challenge of transferring those sketches into drawings on the wall.

And then it was time to paint.

And paint...

And paint!

This week we finished the murals and they are fantastic! Thank you to the 9 - 12 year old Tuesday evening class! Great ideas, sketches and completion! 

If you are in the neighborhood, stop by to see these great murals of Paris, Los Angeles, London & Chicago!

New catalog of classes at Cloud 9!

The new catalog of workshops and classes at my art school, Cloud 9, is out. Although in the summers we usually focus on Summer Camps for kids and teens, this summer we are offering some great workshops for adults too.

Check out all the great classes and workshops for kids, teens and adults: drawing, painting, sketching, writing, knitting, yoga, birthday parties and adult art parties. 

Come be inspired!

We have added new classes and new instructors! For a downloadable and printable copy of our latest catalog of classes, click here.

Gift certificates available.

Sketching outdoors (thank you sunshine!)

The weather lately has been fantastic and although you find me sketching in all kinds of weather, this week it has finally gotten nice enough to take my students too.

Monday evening my teen class and I headed out into Bothell to enjoy the evening sunshine, explore and sketch.

Usually a really chatty bunch, I was surprised at how quiet everyone got as soon as we settled in.

The magic of sketching is that it forces us to slow down, look, draw, and relax. There’s no one way to fill the pages of our sketchbooks. You get to discover how drawing and writing can deepen your experiences and create memories of your day to day life. 

Goals of sketching:

1. Focus on discovery and seeing rather than on the results.

2. Keep developing your eye hand coordination.

3. Get to know your materials and your world.

It was a bonus that as we headed back to Cloud 9 after two hours of sketching, one of the students thanked me and said this was the most relaxing thing he had done in a long time. "I think I'll actually get out of the house this weekend and go sketching again." I couldn't be happier!

Teen Art Class sketching Bothell's Main Street

Teen Art Class sketching outside of Bothell's City Hall

Travel Adventures

I have partnered with World Tour Studios to create and offer international workshops and tours.

Our tours focus on writing, sketching, art history, food, wine, wellness and the good life.

If you are a teacher or leader in any of these areas and you want to take a group of your students or organization's members to Europe, contact us. Let us help you put together the perfect tour so that you can focus on teaching your students and enjoying the travel adventures.

Join us and be inspired!

Flight

Today I finished my watercolor, Flight, based on a photograph by the talented Pat McSweeney.

This is the first large watercolor (36 x 50 in. / 91 x 127 cm.) I've painted in a long time and I absolutely loved getting lost in this gaggle of snow geese from Fir Island. 

I'm looking forward to creating more bird paintings.

Thank you Pat for letting me use your photo as an inspiration for "Flight."

Book review: Paint Watercolors that Dance with Light by Elizabeth Kincaid

I recently finished studying and painting my way through Elizabeth Kincaid's book, Paint Watercolors that Dance with Light.

Got It! by Elizabeth Kincaid, 22 x 22 in

Elizabeth Kincaid writes clearly and inspiringly about composition, color, light and shadow. The book doesn't have many step-by-step lessons and is not geared towards the beginning watercolors student. But the book does beautifully show Elizabeth's process and how to apply it to one's own work. This book is inspiring without being intimidating.

Paint Watercolors that Dance with Light primarily outlines techniques for masking and glazing watercolors and offers plenty of examples of Elizabeth's dazzling realistic paintings drenched in color. Elizabeth's work has strong, saturated, bold color, which I love. But even if you prefer the softer world of neutrals or have a looser painting style, this book offers great tools to explore.

Friends by Elizabeth Kincaid, 23 x 39 in

In addition to the focus on masking and glazing, Elizabeth gives tips on color mixing, value studies, composition and finishing touches. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in exploring the magic of light, color and shadow in their watercolors .

Elizabeth Kincaid's work is on exhibit until April 27 at Tsuga Fine Art, downtown Bothell. Her book is available for purchase there as well.

"I paint images I find in nature that attract me by their abstract shapes and patterns and the way light falls on them and brings color alive. I am excited by a feeling of movement and energy in nature and colors that sing next to each other. I look for subtle color shifts and then enhance those colors in my paintings so that my work has the richness of my experience of the world about me. I see the world as a bright, scintillating network of interconnecting shapes, always moving and alive. I work in a realistic style that is strongly graphic and impressionistic. I build paintings from many thin glazes of brilliant and luminous color."– Elizabeth Kincaid

Urban Sketching Bothell

This weekend I attended Gabi Campanario's Urban Sketcher's workshop: Urban Sketching Bothell. What a great way to spend a few days! Gabi took the class through all the important elements of sketching: line quality, composition, values, and watercolors. Demos in class and on location.

Here are my sketches from this fantastic weekend and a few photos from our time together.

Urban Sketching Bothell: Country Village

Urban Sketching Bothell: McMenamins

Urban Sketching Bothell: Main Street

Sketch by Gabi Campanario 

Thank you Gabi! And thank you to all the participants who made this weekend so great!

#UrbanSketching #UsKSeattle #GabiCampanario #Cloud9ArtSchool

Botanical explorations

In anticipation of the Botanical Sketchbook & Painting workshop I will be teaching in a few weeks, I have been spending my time sharpening my observation skills, my graphite technique, and my drawing chops.

I love sketching in general but there is something soulful about studying nature in detail. Really getting in there, and understanding the magic of nature. I took photographs, I dissected flowers, I measured petals and leaves, and then I sketched.

Spending days observing and learning about flowers, fruit, leaves, and the natural world. Heaven.

I'll spend this rainy day in my studio, working on a large graphite drawing of African violets today. 

If this sounds like a joyful way to spend your days too, come join me in exploring botanical drawing & watercolors in my Botanical Sketchbook & Painting workshop.

Tuesdays 9:30am - 12:30pm
April 10 -  June 5

We will cover various aspects of botanical drawing and painting, learning about materials, basic plant anatomy, and techniques for drawing and painting with graphite and watercolor. Subjects include flowers, fruit and vegetables.

You will get a creative workout, but in a relaxed, supportive setting, where experimentation and play are encouraged while techniques and observation are emphasized. Register here.

My 100 People

A few weeks ago two of my favorite sketchers, Marc Taro Holmes and Liz Steel, ran an art challenge: One Week 100 People. The rules were simple:

1. Sketch 100 people between Mon 5 – Fri 9 March
2. You can do it any way you want – pencil, pen, watercolour, ipad etc – and they can be quick gesture drawings or more detailed sketches.
3. The ultimate is to sketch people out on location but feel free to work from photos, or do a self-portrait series
4. Use the hashtag #OneWeek100People2018

Here is my collection of 100 people. Done with my favorite pen on a Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook.

#OneWeek100People2018

Birds!

We are a few weeks into my Birds! Sketching, Drawing and Painting Birds workshop and I wanted to share a few of our highlights so far. These images are from the sketchbook pages of various students. We are studying bird anatomy, focusing on feather groupings, beaks and feet.

                                                                                                                    Katherine Voss sketchbook

                                                                                                                 Sandy Hendricks sketchbook

We had a guest visitor, the beautiful Amazon parrot Maya who posed for us as we took photographs of her and studied her feather groupings, feet, beak, and postures. Occasionally she talked to us.

This week we went to Woodland Park Zoo and sketched in the wild. We lucked out with the weather and filled up pages and pages with sketches. Several students also brought cameras and captured some great photos to work from later.

This cheeky Cock-of-the-Rock feigned great interest in me and my sketches. She sat right in front of me and eventually flew over to sit beside me. As I turned my attention back to my sketching, she grabbed my kneaded eraser and flew off with it!

                                                                                                                                  Chilean Flamingos

We regrouped after a few hours of sketching and it was amazing to see how many sketches people were able to do in a few hours. In the weeks ahead we will be drawing from mounts and skins. It has been an absolute joy and I look forward to the next half of this workshop with such a great group of artists!

                                                                                                                     Page from my sketchbook

Botanical Sketchbook & Painting

In a few weeks my Botanical Sketchbook & Painting workshop will start.  I love sketching in general but there is something soulful about studying nature in detail.

Spending days observing and learning about flowers, fruit, leaves, and the natural world. Heaven.

Join me in exploring the tradition of botanical watercolors, a personal passion of mine!

Botanical Sketchbook & Painting

Located at Cloud 9 Art School
18414 103rd Ave NE
Bothell WA 98011

www.cloud9artschool.com

Tuesdays 9:30am - 12:30pm
April 10 -  June 5

We will cover various aspects of botanical drawing and painting, learning about materials, basic plant anatomy, and techniques for drawing and painting with graphite and watercolor. Subjects include flowers, fruit and vegetables.

You will get a creative workout, but in a relaxed, supportive setting, where experimentation and play are encouraged while techniques and observation are emphasized. 

Three Main Learning Objectives:

To understand basic principals of drawing in graphite, pen, and painting in watercolors.

To introduce students to fundamentals of depicting flowers, fruit and leaves.

To practice techniques of drawing and watercolor painting.

Register at https://charlenecollinsfreeman.com/workshops/

One Week 100 People challenge 2018

Two of my favorite sketchers, Marc Taro Holmes and Liz Steel, are running a One Week 100 People challenge for the second year in a row. I didn't know about it last year but I'm in for this year! Who will join me?

The rules are simple:

1. Sketch 100 people between Mon 5 – Fri 9 March
2. You can do it any way you want – pencil, pen, watercolour, ipad etc – and they can be quick gesture drawings or more detailed sketches.
3. The ultimate is to sketch people out on location but feel free to work from photos, or do a self-portrait series
4. Use the hashtag #OneWeek100People2018

With 100 people to sketch, the goal is just to get out there and sketch! Most sketches will be quick gesture drawings which will get you in the habit of bringing your sketching supplies with you during the week and will help you loosen up your drawing.

Ultimately the challenge is to learn to practice for the sake of practicing. No need to complicate this challenge by giving yourself even more rules. The One week 100 people challenge is a short block of time but it could be enough to get you into the habit of carrying a sketchbook all the time. That's a habit I've sort of dropped and am happy to pick up again.

Use the hashtag #OneWeek100People2018 if you choose to post your sketches on social media.  You can use any medium, including digital sketching such as on a phone or iPad. You can create any type of sketch such as a quick gesture drawings or more detailed work. They just have to be of people! Ideally sketch on location but working from photos or a mirror works too!

Some tips:

• Come up with a list of crowded places or events where you can draw people – visit a park, the public library, go shopping,  a sporting event, a performance of some sort.
• Go drawing with other sketchers.
• If you don’t want to sketch in the wild, sketch from photographs, pause scenes on tv, find some good people images online and sketch.

Don't overthink it! Just draw! And by the end of the week you will have a great collection of sketches. Some of them will be awesome!

Tea Party: Step by Step

I recently finished Tea Party, a watercolor and color pencil painting (14 x 17 in. / 36 x 43 cm.). The inspiration for this painting was actually the teacup, a present from a good friend of mine. I sort of, very loosely, collect teacups. I love the mismatched beauty of this collection.

The flower and the butterfly were invited to the painting after the teacup arrived. I've put together a few work-in-progress photos to share with you, how a Tea Party came to be.

First, a very light pencil drawing on Arches 140 lbs cold press watercolor paper. I've darkened the lines here so that the drawing can show up better.

I applied a granulating paint for the background, my newest favorite Daniel Smith watercolor, Rose of Ultramarine. I applied it lightly, knowing I would darken it later, after I painted in the subjects. I lightly painted over the shape of the butterfly, knowing I would want the same background color to show up in it.

Next I painted the subjects and color penciled a few details on the butterfly. I made sure to add light touches of Rose of Ultramarine into the flower and the butterfly, to make sure the subjects tied in with the background. At this point I was able to gauge how dark I wanted my background. 

I did two more washes of Rose of Ultramarine on the background to enhance the contrast with the white parts of the subject. The white highlights in the flower and the white petals in the teacup really pop in contrast to such a dark background.

Once that background was done, I reevaluated my contrast throughout the painting and made a few small adjustments. 

My husband supplied the title. Happy tea time!