Self Portrait Drawing and Painting
November 17, 2021 | Sossi Essajanian
Observational drawing and painting gives children the opportunity to notice details, deepen their understanding, and fosters inquisitiveness.
Recently the children used mirrors to begin their first observational self-portraits. They were done over a few days, step by step.
Step 1: Observe your face.
The children first traced their face, eyes, noes, and mouth with their fingers.
My lips are like a line.
Step 2: Draw the shapes you observed with your finger.
The second step was to use their finger to “draw” on the paper what they traced.
Step 3: Draw with your flair pen.
Finally with flair pen in hand, they carefully created the shapes as they had planned.
Meanwhile in the studio…
It all started in worship when the children thanked God for all the different ways they look and things that make them unique.
They studied their faces and hands and decided which shade to use for their self-portrait. Many children chose to mix different shades together to best match their skin.
Finally they used a mirror to observe their faces then started painting!
Sossi Essajanian
Teacher, Sky Class
Sossi Essajanian is excited to continue her teaching and learning journey at the Mustard Seed School. She began teaching at the United Nations International School where she worked with children and colleagues from around the world. This inspired her to take a primary teaching position abroad in Nicosia, Cyprus, where she lived and worked for two years.
Ms. Essajanian has a passion for supporting children’s social/emotional skills and learning through a loving and caring classroom community. These are built on creating shared understandings and opportunities for children to identify and express their feelings and of those around them. She believes in creating experiences through pair and group work where learning blossoms through social experiences.
Ms. Essajanian also enjoys reading and talking about books and continues to pursue her second passion: editing. She’s worked in various editorial capacities in newspapers, magazines, and books. She was recently excited to serve as the development editor of a children’s book about engineering and is looking forward to leading some tinkering investigations of her own with her students!
In her free time Ms. Essajanian runs, swims laps, and likes to take long walks to explore the world around her.
