An artful way to spend Christmas

There are some great opportunities to get creative this Christmas season coming up at Painting Explorers on Corbyn Street. On 12 and 13 December there's a two-day workshop in 3D mixed media work, during which children and young people aged 7-15 years can experiment with plaster and recycled materials to create fabulous sculptures.

Organiser Sofie Cornillon Guerrero says, "The workshops will begin with observation drawing of animals, then we'll put together different animals using plaster and found items to make a new magical creature. That's how traditional creatures such as dragons and centaurs were created."

Then, on 19 and 20 December, Sofie is running one a special two-day manga character-creation workshop by popular demand. She says, "The manga workshop will look at robots

and mecha as well as animal observation, so your new creation could either be part of the animal kingdom or part of the robot kingdom!"

Workshop participants will be inspired by machines, animals and traditional beings such as fairies and gargoyles to create their own modern mythical manga creature. Sofie adds, "Our manga workshops are always extremely popular with people who have a sense of curiosity and adventure, and also people who like stories."

This workshop is again for young people aged 7-15 years.

Both workshops run from 10am-3pm on each day of the weekend, giving young people plenty of time to create a special work of art for Christmas. The price, including materials, is £85 (£80 per child for siblings) and registration and payment must be made in advance. For further information and bookings, contact Sofie on sofie@paintingexplorers.com