Across the theme, artists explore sunlight, colour mixing, texture, and simple sculptural forms. Bright, playful, and (always) grounded in process rather than outcomes.
Introduction
This is our love letter to Summer! Long days, bare feet, light pouring into the studio, and colour everywhere you look.
This theme grew out of everything we love about this time of year at Smudge. Doors open. Music on. Paint drying faster than usual. Kids moving between inside and outside, carrying ideas with them. There’s a lot of warmth here (both literal and not!). Across these experiences we explore sunlight, colour, and material in ways that feel playful and unforced. Cyanotypes that rely on the sun to do their thing. Colour mixing that slows everyone down. Sculptural work, sensory pauses, and plenty of room to experiment. And time to enjoy the process of making together (of course!).
From Smudge to You
Below you'll find the collection of creative activities we've used to bring this theme to life at Smudge. Each one is an invitation to play, experiment, and see where the materials take you. Pick and choose what excites you and adapt them to your own space.
A taste of what's inside
collageAges 3–12
Paint and Cut and Layer
Gather these before you start.
6 more inside this theme
Experience 2
creative-exploration
A brush full of possibility!
Experience 3
print-making
Art Made with the Sun
Experience 4
sculpture
Warm your days with moving colour.
Experience 5
sculpture
This experience is inspired by illustrator Clare Youngs and her joyful, graphic suns. Her work is bold but gentle, playful without being busy, and full of simple shapes layered again and again. It feels like a perfect fit for a week centred on warmth and light.
Painting your own collage paper before any of the cutting and tearing happens is where so much of the magic lives! Set out paper and invite artists to explore warm colours freely. Yellows, oranges, reds, pinks, touches of white. Scrape, brush, dab, drag. Thick paint, watery paint. Nothing needs to look finished as it's all about colour and texture and experimentation.
Let the papers dry, then cut or tear them into strips, wedges, and loose shapes. A little swap shop between artists at this point is lovely and keeps things feeling generous and shared.
Have a sturdy base ready. Something like A3 cardstock works beautifully. A lightly pencilled circle can help anchor the composition if that feels useful, but it’s not essential.
If you have a look at Young's gorgeous collages, you'll see that she cuts radials / rays in different thicknesses and lengths. And adds in (or cuts out) repeated shapes to add visual interest. Experiment with ripping instead of cutting too, as this keeps the edges softer and brings in a different kind of texture to the paper.
This is all about colour relationships. What happens when orange sits next to pink? When red overlaps yellow? When a quieter piece gives the brighter ones somewhere to land? Start building your sun from the centre out. Layer paper pieces, overlap them, rotate them, move them around before committing with glue. If any are hanging over the edge of the paper at the end, you can chop these when you're finished (or decide to leave them long!).
Light, balance, and a really good reason to go thrifting!
Experience 6
painting-drawing
Looking closely and letting yellow take the lead!
Experience 7
sensory-play
A warm, lovely place to play.