If you wanted to make a painting about how you like to swim, or of your friends, or about what you did last summer, would you feel comfortable doing it? In this groundbreaking book for young artists, basketball superstar Patrick Ewing and an experienced art educator team up to create an interactive book that encourages youngsters to express themselves through paint. Ewing has long been a role model for kids because of his enormous success as a hoopster, dominating the painted area of the court. As this book reveals, he is also an accomplished painter whose landscapes were reproduced on two Private IssueTM by DiscoverTM credit cards. Unlike other books that explain exactly how to paint a person or an object, this book inspires children to be creative-to show experiences or feelings through the medium of paint. Ewing and Louis emphasize that in painting the process of thinking and discovering is more important than the actual depiction. The authors help children discover what they can do with paint by explaining how to mix primary colors, change the consistency of paint, use brushes for special effects, and much more.
But the principal focus is to encourage kids to get ideas for their paintings from meaningful events in their own lives and ask themselves such questions as "How do I get to school?" or "What fierce or friendly animals do I know?" Throughout the book, which is illustrated with paintings by children, Ewing offers words of encouragement, and he gives an account of his life "in the paint." There is also a wonderful guide for parents and teachers that provides advice on how to help kids become confident, self-sufficient painters, to foster their creativity, and excite them about the pleasures of painting. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Make-A-Wish Foundation.