senshisteph's Profile on Artician

senshisteph

kindergarten teacher/childrens illustrator

My Focuses: Illustrator, Painter, Pencil Artist, Freelance Artist
What I do: I was incredibly lucky to have a real live artist and illustrator (Tony Heald) as my primary school headteacher, who invested a great deal of time in teaching us to draw. Apart from that though, I've had no formal instruction. This can be both a help (sometimes I look at things in a way that someone who had learned a particular way of doing things might not) and a hindrance (I basically have to learn every new technique from scratch, by trial and error).
I certainly wouldn't describe myself as an artist, just someone who likes to draw (and cut paper, and knit, and paint, and...)

My Interests: I teach kindergarten (well, English as a Foriegn Language at a kindergarten). This is the driving force behind my work - I draw to educate and entertain my students, and I draw because I see their life and energy, their ups and downs, the way life is so much larger when you are 5 years old - and I want to get some of that on paper.
When I'm not teaching or drawing, I love to knit, spin, sew, read, and spend too much time on the internet. I'm dabbling with designing my own knitting patterns. Also dabble in origami, felting, yarn-dyeing - anything that strikes my fancy! I love to sing, too. I'm also interested in just about everything - science, technology, philosophy, linguistics - I'm doing a Masters in TEFL as well, so I keep pretty busy!
Artists I like: Leslie Patricelli - her work is everything I would like mine to be. Bright, lively, funny, engaging, simple yet expressive, really seeming to get into the heads of the toddlers she paints. Check her out, seriously! Ed Emberley