showing very good art skills at 6, how to encourage and develop?

[nonicknameseemsavailable]

both my daughters seem extremely good at drawing and art in general and both love it (I was always told I was rubbish at art so don't draw at all but am creative in other ways and we have artists in the family who really are very talented).

How can I encourage them? They are only 5 and 6, we have lots of paints, we are going to try different types of paint over the holidays (thicker ones etc), different shaped brushes and so on. We leave them to it outside with lots of paper and let them do what they feel.

DD1 brought home her art book from school the other day and I think the work is great, I think some of it is very advanced for a Yr1 child but I am not sure the teacher knows what to make of it, the comments don't seem to be hugely good, they aren't bad but I just think the pictures are so developed compared to a child of that age normally. They are normally very detailed so possibly not as 'beautiful' as they might expect because detail can be distracting but equally others are very simple and almost impressionist like.

She gets upset that others at school win the drawing competitions (she has won one outside of school though) or get the awards for art and she doesn't. She feels her work is good and I believe she is right, ok I am going to be biased but it seems a shame that she feels her efforts aren't being appreciated. She is definitely doing what she is asked to do but I am not sure many teachers telling a young child to draw a building would expect it to include all the bricks, corner stones and roof tiles! That of course doesn't mean it CAN'T include those but I suspect they were looking more for an outline, with just the doors and windows outlined etc. The teacher didn't even write anything on that one!

[kilmuir]

Oh dear

[nonicknameseemsavailable]

what do you mean kilmuir?

Oh dear that I am asking for advice on how to help encourage my child in an area I think she is good at?

My confidence was seriously dented by school teachers telling me I wasn't good at art so I want her to stay confident about her drawings not start to doubt herself.

I am not asking if she is gifted in art, I am not pushing her to do it, I know she is exceptionally bright overall and we don't do any work at home but she does like art and I want to help her develop. A large part of art is having the confidence to express yourself, more so than other subjects I think. I don't know about textures or chalks or anything.

[Driedpaintbrush]

Watching with interest. Ime teachers of any subject but particularly in arts and PE can and do damage some children's potential. Especially in arts it is so easy to be disheartened and I totally disagree with winning prices for art work in primary. It is absolutely ridiculous.

I haven't hot any tips but am interest in learning how to encourage and support my dc to develop their artistic abilities.
So just a bump basically.

[Driedpaintbrush]

Sorry, crap spelling.....

[nonicknameseemsavailable]

glad I am not alone driedpaintbrush. I would have loved to be confident in art but I lost that confidence at such a young age. It is a shame because art can be so relaxing and can play a part in so many things (DD2 wants to be a landscape gardener!).

I don't like prizes in primary school full stop as 9/10 they are too PC to be fair to anyone but that is another discussion altogether.

I suppose if it was something I had a background in then I would know how to help/encourage but I imagine it is much the same for parents with no musical ability trying to help children practice an instrument at home etc.