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My Niece the Prodigy

 
 
View Profile littlek
 
Reply Wed 8 Aug, 2007 06:33 pm
My niece is a brilliant young artist. She has always been so. She seems to be focused on faces. And she has a rich imagination which she can embed into her scenes.

I give her a small challenge, she jumps at it and excells. For example, I plopped her down in front of a paint program on my computer, showed her how to change the colors and draw lines. She put out 4 portraits in 20 minutes. They were garish, but when I suggested she do men as well as women and vary the skin tones, she did it and did it well. When I sat to paint beside her, showing how to detail a tree trunk and dot on leaves instead of making a green cloud, she took to it with enthusiasm. I showed her a field of what she would have painted as grass, and told her to see the colors and she could! She picked them all out.

She's 7 years old (nearly 8). She amazes me.

Her last endeavor was a still life. She was given a book (made for adults) on the basics of acrylic painting. She picked a page and made a painting. She didn't even know what a wash was. After I explained it, she did it and then produced the following painting (wine! She's a riot):

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i175/Gigipix/Kids/2007AUG_silvi_acrylic_closesmall.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i175/Gigipix/Kids/2007AUG_silvi_acrylic_closersmall.jpg
 
View Profile sozobe
 
  1  
Reply Wed 8 Aug, 2007 07:03 pm
Wow!!

The shading on the bottle is fabulous.
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Reply Wed 8 Aug, 2007 07:03 pm
Unless that's easier than it looks, pretty damn impressive!
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Reply Wed 8 Aug, 2007 07:15 pm
Wow!

How fun is that!?
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Reply Wed 8 Aug, 2007 07:20 pm
Interesting, her starting to see how light acts...
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Reply Wed 8 Aug, 2007 07:21 pm
That is remarkable indeed, especially since she painted the perspective
of the glass and the cup on the left. Very impressive!!
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View Profile fishin
 
  1  
Reply Wed 8 Aug, 2007 07:31 pm
*sigh* My artistic abilities begin and end with being able to set up the easel.

Color me green (with envy!)
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Reply Wed 8 Aug, 2007 07:32 pm
Better than I could do.
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View Profile littlek
 
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Reply Wed 8 Aug, 2007 07:39 pm
The text, shown on the easel does give some details on how to shade, but not that much. I want to speak with her parents to see what help they may have given her. I asked my niece about the label - how it seems to have a smaller girth than the bottle itself - she said, that's how it is in the pictures (the book). I realized that some of that extra bottle is the shadow cast on the wall behind it.

I find this very exciting. And I hope it's something that I can hold on to - something we can use as a bond as I start to see her less often.
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View Profile jespah
 
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Reply Thu 9 Aug, 2007 04:03 am
Extraordinary. Amazing to see talent developing.
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Reply Thu 9 Aug, 2007 04:07 am
Oh, it's not so good, I think a seven year old could do as well.

Joe(wait..a..minute)Nation
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Reply Thu 9 Aug, 2007 05:11 am
The perspective on the glass blows me away. Most beginning adults ,(and many seasoned painyters) always draw the edges of a glass top as if they came to a point . They draw glasses like footballs . She has the sense of roundness being conveyed in perspective. Thats advanced for a kid. Let her keep messing around and encurage her to paint rather than screw with the computer , because she wont learn from any mistakes on a computer.
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View Profile Thomas
 
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Reply Thu 9 Aug, 2007 05:24 am
Littlek -- I love gifted children, and this young painter is clearly one of them. Congratulations to you for having her as a niece. But congratulations to your niece, too, for having you as an aunt. Your gift as a mentor matches hers as a budding artist.
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View Profile littlek
 
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Reply Thu 9 Aug, 2007 08:14 am
Thomas, that's very sweet, thanks!

Farmer - yes! The roundness is there. The light on the surface of the wine: there!
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View Profile ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Thu 9 Aug, 2007 08:50 am
It'd be interesting to see if she could develop that from the stage shown on the left-hand page to what's on the right-hand page.

Definitely something to enjoy spending time with her on.
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Reply Thu 9 Aug, 2007 09:11 am
I never made it back in last night to mention the thing that really caught my attention -- the base and stem of the glass, the way it is there, but transparent, is really cool.
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View Profile Chai
 
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Reply Thu 9 Aug, 2007 10:33 am
wow, that is impressive.

got any more of her artwork to show?
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View Profile littlek
 
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Reply Thu 9 Aug, 2007 10:37 am
Chai - yes, I'll show some some more when I get around to scanning/photgraphing them.
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View Profile sozobe
 
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Reply Thu 9 Aug, 2007 06:42 pm
littlek wrote:
I find this very exciting. And I hope it's something that I can hold on to - something we can use as a bond as I start to see her less often.


Aw... that's poignant. We've been cheering the fact that you will soon no longer need to work for your sister, but I know your niece and nephew are very special to you.
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View Profile littlek
 
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Reply Thu 9 Aug, 2007 07:02 pm
They are. I showed my niece the first posts on this thread, she was beaming. I asked her if her dad had helped after I left, she said he had a little. And then we scouted out more of her work to photograph and post here (grin). So, more to come.

(I asked her dad later how much he'd helped. He said he'd just sort of explained things to her, like when I explained what a wash was.)
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