Zen drawing with children
Zen drawing with children
When my daughter turned 7, I noticed that her interest in drawing increased, so I decided to find out what blind contour drawing could do for children of her age. I asked permission of the school and one day about 30 children, boys and girls, aged 6, 7 and 8 joined my lesson on one condition: that they would try to draw in silence. I devided them into small groups, gave them magazines with lot's of animal photos and allowed them to pick whatever they wanted to draw, Then I had them draw for about 1 hour.
My conclusion of this small experiment: It was a bit harder to motivate boys than girls of this age, most boys just prefer drawing vehicles and machines from imagination than animals, but once they did, both boys and girls amazed me and themselves about how their drawings became far more realistic looking. To me, it proved that children easily reach the open state of mind, necessary for Zen drawing. Below a illustration of some of the drawings that were made that day.
