Young artists take part in creative summer program led by Geraldine Martinez at Gibraltar's iconic studio

A group of youngsters spent a week submerged in art and creativity during a GSLA summer programme event with artist Geraldine Martinez.

Taking place in the studios of the doyen of art in Gibraltar, the late Mario Finlayson, each day the children were introduced into different style and forms of art.

"It was wonderful to see the children's creativity blossom," said Ms Martinez reflecting on the week.

"We explored everything.”

The first day saw the young artists crafting their own surf designs cut out of cardboard, bringing them to life with acrylics. The second day, they learnt how to blend colours and about complementary colours as the students created beach scenes complete with blended seas and vibrant beach umbrellas made from felt pens.

The third day had them focusing on silhouette painting and, on the fourth, they did pointillism, also known as dot painting.

On the last day, they created a collage.

"We actually used the Chronicle newspaper as the base,” she said, highlighting the fact that it’s good to recycle when creating art too.

Impressed by what she saw in the youngsters and how they progressed throughout the week, she hoped they took up art as a hobby in the future, either via her weekly classes or at home.

Now that the art classes week is over, Ms Martinez went back to ‘Derek’, the turtle she is painting as one of the murals she is undertaking at Eurocity Passage. She finished him last week and will now work on another wall where she will create ‘Ollie’ the octopus.

After that, she will return to Dunas Luxury Resort in Tarifa to complete her murals there.

"I am keeping a close eye on the forecast, as the heat can make it quite difficult to work. But I am excited to get back to the resort,” she said.