Introduction to this Stone Soup Art Activity This city in Yemen, Saana, is similar in architecture with the painting, below, of a town in Saudi Arabia. This photograph is of Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. The buildings are made of brick or mud brick with white decorations made of white paint. This architecture is similar to that depicted in the painting of Al Aflaj, Saudi Arabia made by Khaled Abdulaziz Ateeg, 12. Khaled’s painting was made in the 1970s. Judging by images that I find online I think that this is not what the Al Aflaj looks like today. In the painting, the town is still a city of traditional buildings. They will have been smaller than the ones you see in the photograph of Sanaa. And they will have been of adobe–of mud bricks. What is remarkable about Khaled’s painting is that the architectural style is clear–and at the same time he has had the courage of an artist to present the town as richly colored. Realistic. But also imaginative. Project: Make pictures of the part of town where you live, and pictures of the part of town where you shop. Include in each drawing the important details that make your community recognizably unique. Some of these details are the different shapes of the buildings, the spaces between the buildings, and the patterns the windows make. Also important might be the type and placement of trees and gardens, telephone poles, street signs, advertisements, traffic lights, street lamps and parked cars. Notice in the drawing of Al Aflaj the distinct shape of the minaret tower. If your town has a church or other distinctively shaped building or landmark you might want to include it in your drawing. You don’t have to finish your work in one day. In fact, you probably can’t. So take your time to make a picture you can be very proud of. Like Khaled, allow yourself to be free of the constraints of your community’s real colors. Saudi Arabia is a very hot place. If Aflaj had painted the buildings their authentic brown color the image would have looked drab. What the color achieves is giving the place a sense of brightness–and a desert town is bright even if it is brown. The colors also make the town look welcoming which a brown town might not have seemed. In other words, Khaled used color that wasn’t really there to convey impressions and feelings that he felt looking at his town. As you think of your own town, think of how you might change how it actually looks to get at a deeper feeling about how it looks or feels to you, that is then conveyed to the people looking at your picture. From the January/February 1985 issue of Stone Soup Local Houses, by Khaled Abdulaziz Ateeg, 12, Saudi Arabia
art activity
Art Activity: expressing and recording feelings, with ‘Spring’, by Myra Nicolaou, 8
Introduction to this Stone Soup Art Activity In a way, the new year really starts with spring. Spring is the time for planting the garden and cleaning house. It is the time when trees get new leaves and when you can play outdoors well into the evening. It is the season when cycles begin again. Plants come out of dormancy, fruit trees flower, butterflies and bees are out in force, and the fruits for later in summer begin growing. It is is a time of promise. This picture of spring is a painting by a seven-year-old from the island of Cyprus. Look at this picture. The tree, flowers, sheep, and vivid colors all crowded together recreate one of those important spring feelings—the feeling of bright fresh air, wonderful days bursting with new life. I’ve chosen this image by a young child because, in its exuberance, it has many aspects of abstract art. This is Spring as a riot of color. As a feeling of bursting. As energy. Project: Make a Picture That Records a Personal Feeling of Spring Close your eyes and make yourself feel the way you do on a warm spring day. When you have this feeling in mind, use your imagination to find an image out of your own life that matches this feeling. Maybe in your imagination you see a ball game, or you and your family working together in the garden, or birds in the branches of a tree, or something you saw in a park. Perhaps, like Myra, who painted this picture, your sense of spring is a fruit tree in bloom with bees and butterflies flying about. Your goal is to bring to life the smell and feeling of Spring using images out of your imagination that are based on things you have seen with your own eyes in the real world. Take from the style you find in this picture by a young a child the confidence of the young child — which is the confidence of the artist. Be bold. Take risks. Embrace color. From the May/June 1985 issue of Stone Soup Spring, by Myra Nicolaou, 8, Cyprus
Writing and Art Activity: illustrate your own story, with “The Adventures of Pumpkin and Seegartus” by Nicole Schmidt, 9
Introduction to this Stone Soup Writing and Art Activity “The Adventures of Pumpkin and Seegartus” is about a friendship between two animals–a pony, Pumpkin, and a cat, Seegartus–both favorite pets of Mary. The author, Nicole Schmidt, begins her story with the birth of Pumpkin and his capture from a herd of semi-wild horses, and she ends it with an adventure that clearly establishes the depth of Pumpkin and Seegartus’ friendship for each other. “The Adventures of Pumpkin and Seegartus” is illustrated by the author, and the original is bound into a book. The pictures and the text are a unit; together they tell the story. It is always exciting to see a work illustrated by the author. Who better knows the characters and their lives than the author? And what better time to make illustrations for your story than at the time of creation, when the characters and their lives are freshest in your mind? Project: Write and Illustrate a Story Based on Something That Has Happened in Your Own Life You could write about a pet, about a vacation, about your school year, about camp, about a brother or sister, or about anything. Like the author of “The Adventures of Pumpkin and Seegartus,” you will want to give your work a clear beginning and end. Tell your story in both words and drawings. Your word picture and your drawing picture should complement each other. The pictures might, in fact, fill in information that is lacking in the text and make your story more complete. For instance, in words you might say something very general about a character. It might be through the illustration that you more fully show what the character looks like and how he or she dresses. The Adventures of Pumpkin and Seegartus By Nicole Schmidt, 9, West Simsbury, Connecticut Illustrated by the author From the March/April 1985 issue of Stone Soup Early one morning in the Ozarks of Missouri, on May 1, 1965, a Shetland pony was born in an almost wild herd of ponies that were running on a cattle farm. The mother’s name was Jenny and the father stallion’s name was Prince. No one was around. He was just born under a crabapple tree. (It was a hard day for the mother and foal because the curious ponies in the herd kept coming up and trying to sniff the new member.) Later that day, they slowly made their way back to the rest of the herd of Shetlands. As the herd grazed, they covered a great distance. Finally, they came to a gate that had been accidentally left open and passed through it to the back pasture of the next farm. Pretty soon they had made their way up to the barnyard. A little girl came out of the farmhouse and spotted the colt running by its mother’s side. The little girl, whose name was Mary, ran back into the house and said, “Ma, you promised me a pony. You did, you did!” In a soft voice, Ma said, “What pony, Darling?” “The pony that’s outside. A new one, running by its mother’s side.” “It must have been born in the night,” said Ma. “I’ll take a look outside. Oh, those ponies are Mr. Blacker’s, the man who lives on the north side of town. I’ll ask him if he wants to sell it. I’ll ask the neighbors down the road how to get in touch with him. Meanwhile, stay away from them,” the mother warned, as she started down the road to the neighbors’. “The stallion might attack you. They’re wild and we don’t know what they might do.” The mother walked down the road to the neighbors’. The ponies still ran and ate grass. The mother came back and said, “Mr. Blacker said he didn’t know that a pony was born, but we may have him if we can catch him. That’s why our neighbor came with his lasso.” The neighbor went outdoors and whisked his lasso around and around. It took him four or five tries to get them. The neighbor was the biggest man Mary had ever seen. He and his children led the mother and colt into the smaller pasture. The colt and its mother would have to stay there, separated from the rest of the herd, until the colt was old enough to be weaned. Finally, the day came in late summer when the mother could leave her colt. Mary named the colt Pumpkin because his coat was a lovely pumpkin orange. Chapter Two Mary’s father said, “I think we should put the colt in the empty stallion stall tonight because this is the first night the mother and colt are separated, and besides, it looks like it’s going to rain tonight.” Mary and her father put the colt in the stall and tended the rest of the animals. Mary and her father went back to the house. It started raining and big winds came up, so big that the trees and all things were blowing around. Father said, “It’s a tornado! We must all go to the cellar quickly!” Just as they were running to the stairs, the windows of the front side of the house blew in. The tornado had passed before they had reached the cellar. They went outside to see what damage had been done. A big tree had been blown over right in front of their house. All the plums had been blown off the plum tree. Trees had fallen over on top of the house and all the apple trees in the orchard had blown over. The board fence around the pasture had blown over, too. They looked at the barn. It had blown right in. All of the family ran over to it. The stallion’s stall didn’t blow in because it was built so strong. Pumpkin was scared but all right. They had to use a crowbar to open the stall door. Chapter Three The colt had wonderful days on
