Eight-year-old Disty knows how to draw but had no idea how to paint.
Sitting in a mini chair, the third grader only needed 15 minutes to make a pencil sketch of a smiling girl on a small canvas in front of her.
Her hands seemed paralyzed after her teacher handed her a paintbrush and a plastic palette with several colors in oil paints.
“This is my first time painting on canvas,” Disty told The Jakarta Post.
PT Unilever Indonesia sponsored the painting workshop at Grand Indonesia shopping mall in Central Jakarta.
The workshop ending this Sunday teaches basic painting techniques such as brush strokes and how to create patterns on canvas.
Next to Disty, fourth grader Emily, another rookie painter, showed less anxiety and experimented.
After making a pencil sketch, the 10-year-old girl moved her paintbrush freely to create a picture of three princesses, wearing colorful dresses and orange crowns, standing in front of a dark blue background which she said was “sky.”
”The instructor told me to draw anything I wanted,” Emily said.
“Suddenly I remembered the pictures of princess Cinderella, Belle and Aurora in my fairy-tale books.”
While the price of painting equipment is considered relatively high by many Indonesian families, most Indonesian children see painting as less popular than other hobbies.
A full set of high quality oil paints, for example, may cost parents at least Rp 1 million (US$105).
Meanwhile, sending children to learn painting with a professional teacher will, of course, cost a lot of money.
Rudy, Disty’s father, admitted that it was not common to seriously urge children to learn how to paint, as his family did, since most people saw it as an “expensive hobby.”
”I think... learning how to draw with color pencils or water colors would be simpler for children but this is more exciting,” the 35-year-old civil servant said, smiling.
Alianto, a senior painting instructor, had a different perspective.
Having helped many green, talented painters to become professional in his 10-year career, Alianto said he was sure that the popularity of painting would increase when more and more parents realized its potential economic value.
”Aside from teaching the children it also important to motivate them to produce pieces of work that can be sold,” he said.
In the last year, Alianto has focused on assisting rookie painters and special needs students in two painting workshops: Rumah Lukisku and Rumah Belajar.
From last week until Sunday, he has moved the activities of his students to the mall since he was invited to exhibit the works of his students there.
Taufan Dwi Putra, 11, one of Alianto students, said he was glad to have his four paintings exhibited for the first time during the event.
Two of his paintings, Kebun Bunga (Garden of Flowers) and Bertabur Bunga (Strewn with Flowers), have also been offered to visitors at Rp 3 million and Rp 3.5 million respectively. These are really quite impressive prices for such a young artist.
After having learned painting with Alianto for seven months, he said he had decided to become a professional painter. “Earlier this year, I asked my parents to let me learn painting more seriously and they strongly supported me.”
