Lots of trick-or-treaters stopped by at Window Studio on Halloween. We had to go out and get more candy at the Family Dollar, and even then ran out, much to the disappointment of late-comers. Since most of the kids who have been coming to the Thursday workshop wanted to be out in their costumes, the classes were quieter than usual. But Jerome spent some time helping carve a pumpkin.

Jerome draws a face to carve on the pumpkin.

Ever since he first stopped in on his way home to his grandmother’s on his scooter, Jerome has been one of Window Studio’s most faithful visitors. Sometime he stays to do artwork, sometimes not, though he is always interested in what I am working on. He was especially pleased that I had finally painted the portrait of him that I’d promised, based on a photo I’d taken one day when he and his friend Taneri came over. He had wanted to look scary, like one of the super hero/super villains that all the boys love to draw.

Now Taneri and his older brother Javon often come with Jerome to the workshop. They are always ready to do “splatter” paintings with bright acrylic paints on canvases that I then use for oil sketch portraits. (Jerome’s portrait is painted on the canvas that he had prepared in this way.) Splatter paintings have been a way to discover shapes that then suggest forms in far more interesting ways than one could have arrived at intentionally. Sort of like watching clouds to see all sorts of forms that come to mind, it has also been fun to compare the different things that each of us sees. One of the boys saw a woman’s torso, while another saw the same shapes as suggesting an old man’s face, and a third saw mountains and trees. We all argued and laughed over which it really was!