100s of miles away from the beautiful Cornish seascapes, Sweet Art - a children’s art group based in North London and run by Sarah Harris took on the work of John Dyer.
What possibly could inspire them more than the beautiful, exciting and optimistic art of Dyer at the beginning of their summer break?
They began using mixed media of pastels and watercolour to create the background... sky, sea, sand. Once completed they added flowers and trees to the edges. Some were painted direct to the paper and some were collaged onto the painting so adding to the 3D look. They collaged with tissue paper and cotton wool in the sky and added Dyer's famous seagulls!
Carefully they painted small boats bobbing along the sea.
And finally, they painted and collaged on an embracing couple.
The group of 5-8-year-olds achieved beautiful results in only an hour and a half and certainly set the mood for summer and beach visiting!
"It is always wonderful to see when my paintings have inspired workshops like this. Art is so important to us all but particularly for children, I feel. In an age of screens, curriculums, busy parents and general life chaos art needs a space to be created for it to thrive. Children need to create, explore, achieve, make mistakes and carry all of that knowledge with them and art is a great vehicle to do that. It looks like all the children had a great time exploring colour, narrative, composition and life through their paintings and I hope it will encourage them to continue creating and making." John Dyer.
Above: Lexi aged 8
Above: Sam aged 5
Above: Evie aged 8
Above: Darcy age 8
Above: Zoe aged 5
Above: Tom aged 5
Above: Alyssia aged 5
Above: Mia aged 5
