Art classes Rotorua using Resene Testpots Enrolling now.

Call  0273513887 or 3463435  now  to arrange  your free assessment and interview  to see whether you  children or your grandchilden would like it.
Enrolling now   For :


Monday, Tuesday Wednesday Mornings from 9.30am to 11.30 am
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Afternoons from 3.30pm  to 4.30pm

                              Painting by pupil Ruth Hughes, all rights reserved.

Testimonial.
Monday morning art classes with Janet are the highlight of my week.
Janet shares her knowledge, creativity and expertise with enthusiasm , inspiring me to enjoy my art in  whatever form I choose and at what ever level I am at.
She also has wonderful listening skills which makes an art class with Janet a delightful way to spend a morning.
Ruth Hughes.

 The following paintings are by Ruth Hughes, all rights reserved. 
                            

 Mixed media with collage.

 

 

 

Cards for special people that can be framed.

How would you depict yourself as an angel?

Stencils and textures.

 

Dry brushing and stamping.

 

 
NZ icons

 

Paint your surroundings in a flat modernist style, acrylic with Indian ink




 
NZ icons with acrylic, flat painting, practising edges and colour mixing.
Acrylic washes and layers with Indian ink pen and  spray varnish

 

 

 

 

Acrylic on paper using sewing machine for emphasis

 

 

Record your biking trips and adventures using maps and sew everything together.

 

 

 Enhance your images by sewing on them, it's a lot of fun.

Acrylic on canvas experimenting with typography

Children's book illustration using Resene acrylic test pots.
Children's book illustrating is my favourite thing to do.
 You can do a course with me and produce your own children's book.

One of Ruth's mosaic pavers, clever work. 
You can do mosaics in my classes as well, which is why you need to come in for an interview to see the range of possibilities.
 My studio walls are covered with examples of my work to use as inspiration..

 

                                                                                                                                            Ruth Huges
Ruth's strong graphic style.

                                                                                                                              Ruth Hughes

Ruth came up with this idea herself and produced this series. She also photocopied them and made them into a series of cards.

                                                                                                          Ruth Hughes

  They really make you feel like going camping don't they?

  Resene acrylic on canvas, seascape study  Ruth Hughes.

This is a small selection of masterpieces that Ruth has created.
She is a very adventurous and rewarding pupil to have.


Ring 0273513887 or phone 3463435 for a free consultation on how I can tailor make a  creativity plan to  suit your needs.
Monday, Tuesday Wednesday mornings from 9.30am
Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday afternoons from 3.30pm.
At 374 Clayton Road, Rotorua.

Creativity Quote:
Every child is an artist, the challenge is how to remain one once you grow up.

After School Creative Art Classes, Painting, Mosaics, Sculpture, Mixed Media, Drawing, Book making.

Very enthusiastic about making all sorts of  imaginative well thought out art, very engaging , talented personality.


Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday After School   3.30 pm to 4.30pm.
Each session is one hour long.
Classes start 1st week back to school.
Limited to only 18 pupils, maximum 6 in a class.
This is the best class size for optimal learning.

Quality prices Quality materials Quality accelerated, personalised creative teaching in a genuine artist's environment.

Please phone for a free consultation.
See if your child likes it.
Phone 346-3435
Email janet@jkeen.net

     
Lovely work, comes up with very inventive ideas and  has very competent mosaic skills. A joy!

Very creative, has strong sense of colour and design,  decisive, comes up with fascinating ideas for series.  Both brother and sister work well together, both are a joy to teach, and have a delightful family.  A pleasure to have in the class




 Loves her art and creativity.  Vibrant colour sense. Great communicator. A pleasure to have in the class

Loves gold, painting skills developing well, bright, happy and focused. Loves art, is always optimistic  and  well behaved.




Have produced a lot of  colourful mosaics and paintings that they have displayed in their garden and on their walls and given away to relatives as presents.  The twins work well as a humorous artistic team. Parents, Owners of Third Place Café, Lake Road display some of my paintings and mosaics on their walls.  

Natural flair with colour

Carefully constructed work, detail orientated and a pleasure to teach. Cat lover!!!!

Aspiring model


Good little artist from the very beginning, this was only his second painting.



Started out with little confidence but rapidly gained it with individual attention. Very modern and impressionistic style

Very confident with colour and design, she was in her element creating which was lovely to be a part of.




Confident with  brush skills and a fast worker.  Clearly liked coming up with her own ideas which was empowering for her.

Self portraits with plastic animals.

 

Anthropomorphic cat with plastic animals. Pupils then write a small story or poem  about the work.

Anthropomorphic Pigeon

Each animal was named and they had to go on a small adventure. Ideally the lesson has three interacting characters with drama and conflict resolution.

It's very interesting to me which animals children pick as their favourites or totems and what their names are with the associated stories.

 Mr Hat the Panda.   How cute perhaps he's worried about the time. We put various background papers on first so that it helps tell the story and sets the scene.

This cats name is BS I wonder that that stands for.

 

Self portraits can be quite revealing how a person is feeling and what their thoughts are. Picasso said painting is just another way of writing a diary.

 I like  people to respond to their  surroundings and incorporate the magic of what nature has to offer.

 

Every child is an artist,  the challenge is how to remain one once you grow up.

Picasso

Phone 073463435

0273513887

email janet@jkeen.net

For a free consultation and needs assessment for your children, so that we can taylor make a personalised programme that is fun, exciting, mindful and peaceful.

Genuine enquiries about including your child in my art school are welcome

           Testimonials  from Happy clients

My granddaughter and I have had mosaic and painting lessons with Janet for many years and we have really enjoyed our lessons and our time with Janet.

We endorse Janet as an excellent creativity teacher for all ranges of people from special needs to gifted people.

At one time my granddaughter was very unwell, Janet went the extra mile to come to our home to support our family, and my granddaughter was able to continue with her lessons from home.

 

Janet’s positive and enthusiastic energy helped us though our difficult time.

Thank you Janet
Averie Oliver

 By Rya Patel

 

 

Detailed photorealistic work. Rya has a lot of patience and attention to detail.

 

My daughter Rya has always had a passion for art .

Right from when she was little she would always spend a lot of time colouring and drawing.

I wanted her to advance her art skills and therefore enrolled her in Janet’s art class.
With Janet’s help and guidance Rya learnt a lot of new skills and really improved her drawings and paintings .

She produced some excellent masterpieces which are proudly displayed on the walls in our house.

Janet is an excellent teacher who gives her students the freedom to explore new things while providing guidance and expertise at the same time.

I would be happy to recommend Janet to anyone who would like to take their child’s art skills to the next level. Janet has such a bubbly and vibrant personality and is very approachable and a joy to know.

Meeta Patel

Please phone for a free consultation if you are genuinely interested in lessons and to see
if your child likes it.
Phone 346-3435  027 3513887
Email: janet@jkeen.net

Debating judging at Rotorua Boys High School and Rotorua Girls High.

Winners of the year 13 debate  Boys High with the winning  trophy.


The great Debate between Rotorua Girls  High School and Rotorua Boys High School .

 I judged three debates along with other English teachers last Tuesday night and it was a pretty close race in many of the competitions. 

 This is the fourth time I have judged debates in association with Boys High and every time I do it I learn more and am always surprised by the professional performances of the competitors.

 It is a time of thinking on your feet and intelligent argument, backed up with sound statistics and research along with formidable rebuttal. 
  Half the marks are awarded to presentation of the argument and this is where I really focus.

Good eye contact, pauses, speaking slowly and audibly, having convincing body language and a flair for the dramatic always helps me to decide who wins.

Practise in these areas is crucial so that you can exude confidence.

The topics this year were interesting and engaging.
 Year 9.  Moot  Homework is not beneficial to students.

Year 10.   Moot  NZ needs to have a sugar tax.

Year 11.  Moot Household recycling is a waste of time

Year 12.  Moot Zoos should be banned

Year 13. Moot  Fake news Threatens democracy.
 
The competition was well run by Rotorua Girls High.
They sent some useful handouts about judging debates before hand, provided a nice supper and gave the judges a lovely present of chocolates and an orchid.

A thoroughly enjoyable event.
It was great to see a lot of parental support and attendances by both principals.
I think having  combined events between the Girls and Boys High schools is healthy.
It teaches  pupils about friendly rivalry and co-operation.

I look forward to further judging opportunities.
It's a great community service to be involved with schools in this way.
It's very inspiring to see all these talented young people being so brave and competent. 


Experiences of public speaking will serve them  well in  their promising futures.

 Public speaking quotes.  
“Healthy debating enforces critical thinking principles - looking at things from the different angles, with increased perspective and less prejudgment.”
― Pearl Zhu, Digital It: 100 Q&as


 

Cabbage tree and Reflections from Rotorua New Zealand. Thoughts on the NZ Society of Authors Forum and writing in general.

Last weekend I attended the New Zealand Society of Authors forum in Auckland.

 I travelled all the way up on the bus by myself and booked into some accommodation that was just down the road from the university where it was held. 
I even made it all the way back on the bus and into the arms of my awaiting husband in Rotorua.

This is no small achievement  for me because I'm not a great fan of Auckland because of the traffic and the urban concrete landscape.

I feel from this experience I would be ready to face travelling to Sydney on the plane  by myself to attend  the Sydney or Byron Bay Readers and Writers Festivals.
This may happen.
Who knows?

Visualise to materialise.
 

.

When I travel overseas I always rely on my husband Graham to sort everything out like rental cars and transfers. 
 He takes charge and I sit down guarding the bags dreaming, writing poetry and watching people.


It's effortless for me and empowering for him.
Even though I'm a rampant feminist I am happy to delegate the logistics to him.

The thought of doing all this by myself is daunting and scary, but  maybe less so now I have completed the mishap free Auckland adventure,

The forum in Auckland  included  around 250 professional writers of all types including novelists, bloggers, journalists and people interested in writing for pleasure or profit.
 I felt like I was with my tribe.


There were panels of published authors discussing people's books and trends in publishing, writers taking workshops and healthy food.

 People were friendly if you wanted to talk to them during the breaks.
I tended not to engage in conversation with people because after each session I wanted some down time to think.
 
Several people came up to me to talk and I responded but these days I don't find the need to endlessly engage my mouth.

 It was a very intense time of learning and writing.  
I knew some people as well and I talked to them.
 
It was invigorating and a time of affirming the importance of being a writer.

When tutors set us writing tasks during the workshops there were  no hesitations or people with writers blocks because everyone was flying or floating on clouds of creativity.

I have attended many courses on writing, slaved my way through a Bachelor of Arts, written many essays for my Art Diploma and  written thousands of words in daily journals. 

I've  composed and presented hundreds of speeches for Toastmasters and written columns for newspapers for four years. 
 
I've been writing more or less continuously for the past thirty two  years and it has made me happy and fulfilled. 

You could say it's vital to my sense of self and happiness.
I would be lost without the ability to express myself with the written word.

Living in Rotorua I always feel that I am pretty much alone with it.
 Far removed from  the Wellington and Auckland epicenters where  literary geniuses live.

 I feel that living here away from access to frequent quality literary gatherings has had the effect of watering down my writing to a trickle.
It could be a massive flow at all times.

The key is to keep up the momentum and organise frequent top ups.


 Otherwise your writing could feel like an irrelevant task.
Or just a frament part of a worn out dream.


 I feel after attending the forum that if I want to write I just have to keep writing and look out for opportunities.


If it is supposed to be,  opportunities will flood towards me in an endless stream of abundance, but I need to have faith and believe.


 

Goals can't be watered down by geographical isolation.
That is just another excuse and there will be endless excuses that are promoted by the nagging, negative voice inside your head. 

The trick is to negate the voice, meditate, tell it to shut up and keep on focusing on hitting the ball. 

One of my latest excuses was perhaps I'm too old at 57, perhaps I've missed the boat. 

It used to be I'll never get published, it's a waste of time.
 Be prepared for hundreds of rejections many of the tutors running workshops would say.


There are endless stories of doom and negativity and you can either buy them and give upor keep on plugging on.

 What separates someone who says they want to write book from someone who gets on and does it?
Determination, focus and committing to writing every day.


Having an organised framework of how you are going to attack the challenge and  having good role models also helps.


For the first time; (since attending the forum), I really feel it will be possible to keep on track with all the writing projects I have in planning stages.

If I had unlimited money and time I would like to do a Masters in Creative Writing at Auckland University.
Focusing on poetry and short stories of hope.
This would be my dream.
  

 I'm not going to write dark dreary stuff.
There's too much of that already and many members of the public don't want to read it.

What is stopping me?
1. Money I don't want to be devoting that much to study unless I received a scholarship
2. Geographical location, I don't want to be away from my husband and cat in Auckland.
3. Time I need to keep running my art business to earn money here.


 However in my experience if you want to do something enough you will find a way.
 

Ways could be to seek out other writers forums and systematically attend them all over the country.

I have a huge library  of books on how to write and I am doing all the writing exercises in a book. 
I am assuming out of these exercises, I will find something I want to develop to a publishable state. 
 

Travelling all around the world attending writing workshops would be magnificent.
Blissful, superb.
Making a poster about it and visualising that I obtain opportunities would be a great start.
Having faith and accepting opportunities that open up would be a plan.

I would like to travel all over New Zealand to schools to teach  poetry writing and art making classes.


I am focusing on entering poems to literary journals.

It  is no longer true that you need to paper your walls with rejection slips from the gatekeeper publishers.
 

The self publishing scene is gathering respectability.
 Everything is changing so much with the advent of the internet.

Did you know that Harry Potter was self published at first because no-one wanted to publish the book?
Seems ridiculous now doesn't it? 
 

There are huge opportunities for children's book writers.
 When I was first looking into it everyone said it's practically impossible to be published.

Children are all giving up reading books because they are glued to their computers.
  
 Which proves you don't want to talk to naysayers because things change.

 I have been going into children's sections of the library for over thirty years and I've been making children's book  illustrations for about twenty years.
I have a huge collection of illustrated children's books and love them.

I buy and read a lot of books.
 I have taught classes on writing.

So now it's a matter of putting it all into action.
Ticking off the jobs.
Publicising and flying.
Turning the production into money making possibilities.

It's all out there it's a matter of harnessing it all.

It is possible to write about anything and make it interesting.

Do some research and add your own magic.

Swamp dwelling cabbage trees
Used by ancient Maori as food
and medicine for gastric upsets.

Roots of the cabbage tree were
 cooked and had a similar taste
 to kumara.

The inside of each clump has soft,
green inner leaves that are edible.
Maybe the taste
 reminded the European
settlers of cabbage.

The cabbage tree to me  does not look
like any cabbage I know 
More like  the spines of porcupines or  hedgehogs.

The country about the bay is agreeable beyond description and with proper cultivation might be rendered a type of second paradise.

The hills are covered with beautiful flowering shrubs, intermingled with a number of tall and stately palms.

We saw the tree which produces the cabbage, which ate well boiled and amongst such variety of trees are upon this land, there are doubtless may that produce edible fruit. Our botanists were agrreably employed in investigating them

Sydney Parkinson Tolaga Bay 1769. The Endeavour.

Creativity Quote of the day

Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.-Hal Borland