Two children from Launching into Learning have had their art work selected to be a part of the Marking Marks Exhibition. This exhibition is to be curated at The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart and is showcasing the diversity of marks made by children aged birth to 4. Congratulations to Flynn and Jarvis on their wonderful art work. The exhibition opens on Wednesday 25 September.

Flynn, age 3

Feather painting on paper

Flynn dips the end of his feather into the black paint.

Circling with the feather, he watched as the paints starts thick and begins to fade towards the end of the lines.

He observes another child engaged in the same process and then dips again.

“It’s a spider web” he says.

“Spiders can live in spider webs.”

Pointing to the middle of the page, “that’s a spider, a BIG spider” he explains.

“A super dark spider. Me reckons it needs red eyes.”

I gather some red paint, present it to Flynn and he continues to dip.

“Finished!” he smiles.

Jarvis, age 3

Oil pastel with ink

Jarvis draws circles with the white oil pastel before quickly grabbing the red brush from the ink.

“I love red.”

I asked, “what’s happening?”

“Look” he exclaims as he notices the ink resisting the pastel.

He then adds more white as he has now realises that the ink is not sticking to the pastel and wants to try it again.

He adds yellow and then blue.

*gasps* pointing to the colours resisting.

“Look!”

He then puts his brush in all of the ink, wanting eagerly to see what colour they make together.

He adds more pastel, long lines this time.

As he watches it resist he yells “wahoo!”

Jarvis goes over and over the white pastel with ink as if to check his theory that the more ink he adds the better the chance of it sticking to the pastel. His theory proved wrong.

“What the heck? Look at that. Red and blue, red and blue. Lellow, lellow, lellow. Green and blue.” He talks me through the colours as he watches them merge together on his paper.

“Look at what I done, stick it up now!”