On our visit to Cartagena, Colombia, we walked through the beautiful Getsemani neighborhood on a self-guided mural tour. After the kids were satisfied with the amount of checkmarks on the Scavenger Hunt they created, we offered to take a picture of their favorite mural so they could recreate it later in their notebooks.

There were so many to choose from. But by the end of our trek, the murals with tigers and cats were winning in the competition for favorites.

Final product was a little on the abstract side, but hey that’s part of their own artistic interpretation, right? Even as they imitate art, it’s interesting to see the development of what they are identifying and able to interpret from the original. At their current stage, shape, color, and lines are what appear most prominent. I look forward to seeing their development over time.

The Children’s Museum of the Arts has a great video series on the seven elements of art which include: line, shape, color, texture, value, space, and form. Different elements are more prominent with particular artists. As the kids continue to learn about more artists and types of art, they’ll be able to more easily articulate and imitate these elements.

Personally, I may have chosen this Getsemani mural to imitate. It represents the local legend of the Maria Mulatta bird who was once colorful, but the feathers turned black after saving children from a fire. The mural is said to shine colorfully in bright light yet appear black most of the time, using a special artistic technique by Yurika MDC. Might be fun to try out!