The "Perfect" Father: Heart Studio December 2014 Holiday Program

[Review]

We were really excited when Steffi, Leroy and Stacci were invited to a canvas painting trial class by the wonderful folks from Heart Studio Singapore! I know that Steffi have a love for coloring, as she would often ask us for paper and coloring pencils at home. As for Leroy, he loves to draw but I have doubt that he could draw anything that we can make out easily. Erm for Stacci , she can't even hold her pencil correctly, so I would worry about her the most.

This is the very first time that I am bringing the kids to any formal type of art classes and I wasn't really sure of what to expect. Seeing the course outline, I had initially thought that the kids would be given some "pre-drawn" canvas board to paint in. I know that there are some painting kits for adults in the market that comes with numbered portions for easy painting with the right colors. So I thought that this is how it would be for the classes too.

The students' artwork being proudly displayed everywhere in the school.

As I have said, I was really excited and we ended up reaching the school a full 30 minutes earlier as I remembered the wrong timing. And to pass some time, Ms Rena allowed the 3 kiddos to help her out with making shapes out of plasticine for decorating some paintings, using cookie-cutters. I hoped that the kids never created too much trouble for you Ms Rena!

Making plasticine shapes to pass time as we went too early!

When it was finally time for the kiddos to get into their respective classes, Steffi and Leroy took off to their class in the basement without a care in the world, and I ended up having to stay with Stacci , who rather apprehensive. Stacci doesn't like to respond to the teachers, and relied on me to help to convey her replies. Perhaps it's because she doesn't converse well in English, but it also doesn't help that she is really shy and "cold" when not warmed up.

Patient teacher Syafiq introducing the different colors to the kiddos.

I was surprised when the kids were each handed a BLANK canvas and told to choose their favorite colors for the background. Where is the FOX I thought? And then I realized that Stacci is going to start painting from scratch! Hmm... how would it go? I sneaked out of the classroom when she wasn't looking and went to look for the other two to find out how they are doing.

With the proper guidance, even 3 year old little Stacci was able to paint!

The little fox is taking shape!

Steffi and Leroy were settling well into their classes and both had chosen their Monster Inc. characters to paint. Like Stacci, they were also given blank canvasses and had to rely on a small print of the characters to sketch onto the canvas. I could already make out the respective characters by the time I got into their classes and they were already painting the different shades of colors on them, much like REAL artists!

Here's Steffi adding different tones of blue onto Sulley based on the printout on the left.

Leroy painting after drawing out the outline of Mike himself.

I cannot help but feel proud when the 3 kiddos showed me their artworks, for I would never have imagined that these could have came out from their hands. I know for a fact that the patient teachers had helped the kiddos at some point, either by touching up or holding their hands to help them understand where to paint etc. But a big portion of the work were by the kiddos themselves and I can also feel their pride in their work.

With Mikey almost done and a happy Leroy!

Steffi concentrating on adding the teeth to Sulley.

I also asked the kiddos if they would like to continue with more art classes at the school after the trial classes and ALL of them shouted a big "YES"! The classes available for the kiddos are not exactly cheap but I guess it would be a worthwhile investment in the kiddos for they will not only learn about painting nice pictures, but it will also allow them to exercise their imaginations, train their concentration, improve their dexterity and and increase their self-confidence as well!