JOURNAL 3: LEGION OF THREE

Drawings from Journal: Hummingbird
(click images for larger preview)

©Copyright Trey Gallaher

BACK TO THE FIRST GRADE

Last year a friend, illustrator and old classmate of mine Kristina invited me to visit her daughter Mia's first grade class. It seemed that the budget for art at their school was a little shy and needed some voluntary inspiration and instruction. I jumped at the chance to work with a younger crew of artists than my usual batch of salty dawgs. Meet Mrs. Stephens first grade class of Pleasanton, California.
















My charge was to lead these youngsters for fourty-five minutes during their allotted creative art making hour. Portraits it was! They were welcoming of my company and steadfast in my command, but a little uncertain of my credentials at first. But after a brief introduction and a few samples of my work I brought along, these scally-wags were ready for my lead!



Paint began to fly as I guided them through the rudiments of proportioning the face. Slowly I began to see the wheels start to turn and the look of determination and fury fill their eyes. I couldn't have been more excited. It was working! Even with our limited bunch of poster paint colors and brushes the magic was happening. My crew was hard at work!






Fourty-five minutes past and these youngsters weren't about to quit! They were carefully studying their subjects faces and capturing the likeness. Teaching them to mix primary colors to get skin tones and hair color had them green with envy and anticipation. In their eyes I was conducting magic, coaxing their brushes to make colors appear out of thin air! They were really in love with Color Theory!




I was a little worried about blowing past the deadline but Mrs. Stephen's said "by all means continue, I didn't think they would last twenty minutes". By the time an hour and a half rolled around we were hangin' the work up on the walls and studying their efforts carefully! Smiles appeared on the bright faces of my new found cohorts and feeling of accomplishment. Hi-fives all around!



















I want to send a hearty "thanks" out to my dear friends Kristina and Mia for asking me to be a part of this class. It was a fantastic experience. I will never forget it. I also want to thank Mrs. Stephens for her patience in letting us paint past our deadline. And to my new young artist friends, great job and thank you for letting me work with you.




The thing I came away with the most from this visit was the importance of keeping that youthful spirit in everything you do, to not be afraid to learn something new, to remain open minded, to keep asking honest questions and to just keep trying, even if you make a mistake.









These little people gave me more inspiration that afternoon than any artbook had in a long time.


photos: ©Copyright Trey Gallaher