Ruby is a creative and she just came out that way, it’s hard wired into her. It’s part of who she is and the way she looks at the world. Call it a gifting, an ability an aptitude, but for me it’s just her.
The artistic temperament comes with it’s own challenges like high sensitivity, Sensory Integration Issues and for her also the fact that she is 2e (Autistic with a gifted IQ). Art for her is a refuge, a safe place and a vast inner world that balances and regulates her being. Energy banking when she feels physically and emotionally drained and depleted.
Her voice to communicate her thoughts and special interests and her emotional expression, since verbal expression is a foreign second language, as is the case with many people on the spectrum.
Homeschooling her has been a joy from the start. She is knowledge seeking and has a natural love of learning that just needed sunlight and a nourishing, stimulating environment to flourish. When she was young her art and creative expression was very organic, intuitive and it would just pour out of her continuously. She loved her art classes, pottery classes and online art lessons.
The teenage years and high school brought a shift. Her process changed and became much more intrinsic. With a lot of creative writing and journaling, world building, delight directed research and independent learning based on various special interests.
It became a challenge for me to find a homeschool art curriculum that would challenge her but also teach real art skills in a logical and structured way. Specifically aimed at building an art portfolio that she could use to apply for tertiary studies, since she will definitely pursue a creative career pathway. After all, she is an INFJ with an AIRCES aptitude.
Then we found OCAD Arts, an accredited online art school in Cambridge, UK: https://www.cambridgeonlineeducation.com/
What an amazing treasure. Yes, it’s hard and challenging but it is so worth it. She did the 2 year Level 2 Art & Design course, Ofqual regulated and BTEC equivalent (IGCSE equivalent): https://www.artcoursework.com/class-courses/level-2-art-design-gcse-equivalent/
It is just amazing to see how Ruby’s skillset and ability has grown and evolved over just a few months of doing this course. I think the photos speak for themselves.
Since then Ruby has become very interested in Animation, Digital drawing and Digital painting. She is aiming for the Animation Industry in South Africa and wants to study at The Animation School in Cape Town https://theanimationschool.co.za/diploma-in-digital-animation/
Here are some of her more recent art:
Eunoia [yoo-noy-ah] 