Lynn Blake John | Artist | Writer | Composer

Two children’s ebooks published on Amazon

By Lynn Blake John | Published: August 23, 2014

I’ve just published two children’s picture ebooks on Amazon.

Revenge of the Vegetables is the story of Freddie, a boy who hates vegetables. One day when no one is looking, he throws his vegetables in the rubbish bin. The angry vegetables want revenge, and Freddie has to run for his life! Can Freddie be rescued? And could vegetables actually be good for you?

You can buy Revenge of the Vegetables on amazon.com OR amazon.co.uk.

athlete-cover The Accidental Athlete is another picture book featuring the hapless Freddie. This time he hates sport and exercise. One day he sneaks off the playing field in the middle of a game — and the consequences are unusual! A badminton racket, a golf club, and a bicycle strike back. Will Freddie triumph in the end? Could exercise actually be fun?

You can buy The Accidental Athlete on amazon.com OR amazon.co.uk.

While these books aim to entertain children with humour and imaginative illustrations, parents will be pleased that the surreal adventures might help combat the current crisis in childhood nutrition and fitness.

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Art class for kids: Weaving

By Lynn Blake John | Published: January 16, 2011

In a recent art class, my students — Mared, age 10, and Catrin, age 7 — learned to weave.

First, we cut strips into one piece of paper, leaving a one-inch margin on one side so that the paper stayed intact. Then we cut out strips of various pieces of paper and wove them in and out on the first piece of cut paper.

Once they learned the basic technique, the girls wove strips of fabric, thick threads and strips of paper onto a base of grey toned paper.

I then asked them to use their weave as a dress. They then drew the face and limbs around the woven dress and put feathers in the hair.

Weave by Mared, age 10.

Weave by Catrin, age 7.

This project taught the girls weaving but also let them combine weaving with the drawing techniques of previous lessons.

They loved this exercise so much they didn’t want to go home!

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Art class for kids: Flower collage

By Lynn Blake John | Published: January 16, 2011

In another art class, my students — Mared, age 10, and Catrin, age 7, — drew flowers with collage.

First, we examined a fuschia flower and counted the number of petals. Then we cut out petal-shaped pieces of fabric and glued them to some newspaper. We tried to use different fabrics for each petal, each in the pink-toned family.

After the girls gained a little confidence, I gave them a big selection of flowers and leaves to choose from. Using a variety of fabrics, beads, threads and feathers, they collaged the foliage onto grey-toned paper.

Flower collage (detail) by Mared, age 10.

Flower collage (detail) by Catrin, age 7.

The results are colourful and fun!

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Art class for kids: Stylized faces plus collage

By Lynn Blake John | Published: January 15, 2011

I’ve been a teacher for over 30 years. Teaching is truly my first love and a Master’s Degree in Education helped me learn to be a more effective teacher.

In 2010 I was especially lucky to have as my students Mared, age 10, and Catrin, age 7. I thought my readers might like to look at their progress.

For the first lesson, Mared and Catrin learned how to draw stylized faces. We set up pencil guidelines for placement of the facial features and then drew over the guidelines using markers.