It was a beautiful day for the children of our school today. First our friend Iris, whose birthday it is today and whom we send our love, sponsored the food for the kids. And right after their lunch, the three higher classes of the school were invited into the biggest of our classrooms to have a special art class: Jennifer, our friend from the US, has brought a whole suitcase full of art supplies, papers, pens, pastels and water colours. She is an art teacher and this is what she shared with our kids today, too. It was just beautiful and lots of fun for them!
In traditional art classes children get a picture of a house or an apple and they have to paint, or actually copy, exactly what they see, with the same colours and the same shape. Today they painted in a very different way. Jennifer encouraged them to express their emotions and just paint whatever they felt onto the paper and with whatever colour they wanted to. You can imagine that the children were at first surprised but then had a lot of fun filling the paper with many different colours. Tomorrow it will be the younger children’s turn. It is a fully free way of expressing yourself, maybe you can also try that sometime if you feel that you want to express a feeling but don’t really know how. Enjoy seeing and feeling the colours and the shapes. Bring yourself into the picture and make it a portrait of your soul.
See pictures of today’s birthday food
I am an artist and I know how important non-verbal expression can be to people, especially children. I think if more people Got out some colors and just saw the value in creating visual things then we would be a happier world… of course who’s going to take that suggestion seriously? But I really believe it.
It is amazing the kinds of art that children create when given the freedom and spontaneity. I think art can be an amazing form of therapy, to let out feelings and emotions that you may not even be able to speak. What a treat for the children at the ashram!
What a beautiful sight, all the colours and emotions down on that paper. It is lovely to have an insight into children’s minds. Art and creativity is so important for expression and development!