Meow! Meow!

I have been teaching after-school art program at Waikoloa School for 6 years now and I enjoy doing it more and more each year. Despite its some hardship of course (disciplines, no storage, etc.) I fall in love with children's "natural" abilities and attitudes toward creating their artwork. They don't pretend or afraid. Especially young children in K~2nd classes, I am convinced that what they are doing is experimenting, enjoying the process and  plainly expressing themselves, without concerning how their work would be perceived by others. I know this because many of my students fold their "masterpieces" into one eighth or so (!) to put in their backpacks after they finish (many parents report to me that they have to unfold the work to admire them or put them on refrigerators). Working more than 20 years now as a professional illustrator myself, how I appreciate learning from them about discovering something "new" all around us and expressing through art. There is no dull moment in life and in my art classes :D 
"Every child is an artist, the problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." - Picasso


Here are some of cat artwork K-2nd  children did.  I always try to read one picture book (that relates to the subject of the project) for this age to inspire them before they start their work. The book I chose for these cat art was When Cats Dream by Dav Pilkey. The illustrations in this book change their forms and styles dramatically from realism in a cat's real world view to free and imaginative styles in a cat's dream.  Children really enjoy this project; their wild colors and abstract forms are so inspiring, fun and wonderful! Enjoy!