KATE SHOWS ART FROM THE HEART
Encouraging parents to draw with youngsters, the Princess of Wales shares charming portraits of herself by her favourite artists – her children
Theirs is a family that enjoys getting creative and it seems that the Princess of Wales’s children have inherited her passion – as well as her talent – for art.
Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, nine, and six-year-old Prince Louis have each produced a sweet portrait of their mother, which Kate shared last week to encourage other parents to draw with their children.
Already displaying considerable artistic flair, the youngsters used crayons and pencils to produce their impressive pictures of the Princess.
Although Kensington Palace didn’t identify which young royal had created which portrait,
The Princess of Wales with her husband the Prince and their children in Norfolk last year. Kate shares portraits thought to be of (clockwise from top left): her by Prince Louis; her own drawing of her sleeping youngest son; Kate by Princess Charlotte; and by Prince George
George appears to be responsible for the linedrawn image of Kate sitting in an armchair, crossleggedandwithherhairfallingoverhershoulders.
Louis’s work is more abstract, with the Princess’s features and hair drawn in red crayon, with a splash of orange and a beauty spot above her lip.
Charlotte is thought to be behind the pencildrawn portrait of Kate, which shows her with multicoloured hair created using crayons.
Meanwhile, Kate, who is raising awareness of the importance of early years through the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood’s Shaping Us initiative, showcased her own skills with a charcoal sketch of her sleeping youngest child.
Sharing the images on social media, she said:
“The Early Childhood Shaping Us Framework describes the social and emotional skills which start to develop in early childhood.
“These skills are key throughout our lives, shaping who we are, how we manage our thoughts and emotions, how we communicate with and relate to others, and how we explore the world.
“Drawing portraits with children can provide a moment of connection as you spend time focusing on one another, as well as being creative and – most importantly – having lots of fun!”
REPORT: TRACY SCHAVERIEN
Portrait artist Lorna May Wadsworth has painted famous faces including former Prime Ministers Baroness Thatcher and Sir Tony Blair, and former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams. Here, she gives hello! her response to the Wales children’s work.
The beauty of these drawings is that there is no right or wrong; they’re about freedom of expression and the very act of making them.
Is the red portrait a sad clown? A self-portrait of someone in urgent need of a flu-relief decongestant? Made with my favourite red lipstick? I like the commitment that went into
making the marks. We get so tentative as we age.
Perhaps not feeling blue, but it’s a turquoise and purple hair day. Gold eye shadow or an emphatic blonde brow lamination? With the perky emerald collar, this is a look that wouldn’t be out of place at The Face Magazine: Culture Shift, which launched at the National Portrait Gallery the next day.
Is that Princess Catherine in a chair? Knowing who the subject of a portrait is can make us look at it differently. The sparse style shows that you can leave things out and the eye will fill in the gaps – the top half of the body is floating, unlinked to the legs. A lesson that doing less can communicate more.
The closed-eyes charcoal, which has been assumed to be Catherine’s drawing of Prince Louis, echoes artist Chris Levine’s 2004 holographic
portrait of Louis’s great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, “resting her eyes” under the weight of her crown as she stole a moment at their sitting. Was Louis asleep or closing his eyes as a protest?
Recently, I stood on London’s Millennium Bridge lending my voice to The Arts and Minds Campaign, which seeks to ensure the arts are given adequate money and time within the school curriculum.
These drawings, given a spotlight because they are assumed to have been created by royal fingers, are a reminder that all children benefit from the opportunity to express themselves creatively.
Which, I believe, is why our intelligent and empathetic Princess has made her children’s drawings available to us in this way.
For more, visit lornamaywadsworth.com.
TOP PORTRAIT ARTIST’S VERDICT ON GEORGE, CHARLOTTE AND LOUIS’S WORK