It means a lot to me that so many families have kept their children enrolled here for so long, over the years.  Most of my current students have been with me for more than 2 years, some as long as 6 or 7 years! It's certainly not what I had planned or imagined. And I sure to love it.  It feels like family, it really does! And I love them all.

I've tried before and chickened out, on creating online lessons so that I could help more people, but now I am pretty stoked to have found a platform that I feel works really well to set up an online course, AND works well from a student point of view of well...

So, with this being 10 years of All Smilez Art School, and (20 years of All Smilez website, back from when I painting personalised portraits), I am darn well going to celebrate!!!

It's not easy being self employed, in little ol' NZ.  I'd really love to thank everyone who has supported me over the years, bought my art, or enrolled their kids.  

And a HUGE thank you to the people who have left feedback for me to share.  This means the world to me, especially now that I need to figure how to get more people to find out about  new online art courses and clubs.

This photo is from 10 years ago, when I started after school classes by first renting a room in a school after hours.  Not long after that I bought my current home, and started converting the garage (on a tiny budget) into my current studio!!!

If you have special memories from way back then you'd like to share, feel free to email Kim@allsmilez.com or post on our facebook page! I'd love hear how everyone's going.

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Let's celebrate our birthday and boost self esteem with drawing and painting. The new art club is where you get weekly lessons, like in the Drawing Challenge, but these are in monthly themes.  You can currently sign up for 1 month or 6 months, and with the new package deals, you can get the drawing challenge for free. (value $35)

AND for our 10 year of art classes birthday, use the code BDAY to get 10% off all courses!
(excludes package deals and bundles and 1 month art club trials)

Save with packages and course bundles... 
Art club members are invited to join our facebook group.

Thanks again everyone, for all your love and support!

​Kim

Did you know that All Smilez got it's name from Kim's smiling students? It's true, but its not what you think.  Way before Kim started running small group art classes from her home studio, she was a primary school teacher. 

Even before she had her own children, she was a primary school teacher. 

And even before that she was an artist.

When she was at home with her first baby, she had to think of something inspiring to paint.  What was the first thing that came to mind?  Her sea of smiling students looking up at her from the classroom mat when she was a regular classroom teacher.  

That's when Kim started painting simple smiling children characters. These grew in popularity and soon Kim was painting personalised paintings sold all around the world!
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Check out this 2 page spread in Little Treasures parent's magazine from 2006!

Back at the start, she called it Artworx by Kim, and when it came time to build a better website, a more fitting name of All Smilez was born!
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From time to time Kim still gets orders for these little portraits.  And STILL receives emails from families who cherish these keepsakes 10-20 years later!
To get your own, even extra large family portrait style, where Kim paints these WITH  your children, go to this page:

When Kim decided to move from Raglan to Hamilton, and create her own little art classes, she called it Kreate Academy.... then when she realised she needed a website for this too, it became obvious that she should use the website she already had.  So the name Kreate was abandoned and All Smilez was jolted into something more!  

YES! Kim could combine her love of painting, with her teaching experience, AND her love of small groups/ 1 to 1 , more personalised teaching.

And do you know what????? I have something really special to tell you next. 
 
WATCH THIS SPACE FOR THE REVEAL OF THE NEXT DEVELOPMENTS IN OUR
ALL SMILEZ JOURNEY!

Let's face it.  We all know someone, young or old, who honestly believes that they are no good at drawing.  And that, my friends, is super sad.  

I have been working with children and adults in the exact same way, and I am happy to report that all of them could draw, although, lots did start off with a bit of resistance or fear.  If you or someone you know thinks they are no good at drawing, or that they just don't know how, so why should they bother.... PLEASE send them my way!

My drawing challenge is pretty private.  Great for building up confidence.  
I'm bringing to you, and other members of drawing challenge, 1 lesson per week.  
It's something I know that you can do.  You can do it as simply or detailed as you like.  

That's what I love about the way I teach.  It's doable. YOU are in charge. You need to be able to see that you can indeed ENJOY drawing first, then you can have fun experimenting with what you can do with the lesson of the week.  It's fun. 

Ideally, you might do this along side a family member, young or old.  Or at least you will talk to each other about it at home, even if you do the lessons at seperate times.

Check out our drawing challenge which starts Mon Mar 22, but after that you can still join up and do it whenever you like :)
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If you feel like your child is rushing through the papers, and their drawings are super quick, I have some ideas to slow them down.

​Slowing down with the idea of being a little more purposeful with their experiments in drawings, which also help to keep their art organised and clutter free.  Read on.

The answer is in the BOOK. 
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That's right.  Let's get them interested in the value of books.  You know how books have something on each page, and we keep them upright in our bookshelf, so they don't get lost or damaged? Well, let's do that with our drawings.  Kids' drawings are special and important.  They may show a development over time.  And this cool to look back on.

By keeping their drawings in a book, otherwise known as a SKETCHBOOK, you will be able to easily keep chronological track of what they've been doing.  If your child is old enough to write the short date at the bottom of each drawing, that's even better.  

It's also important to set up a nice space and mood for drawing.  If wearing headphones and listening to soft music helps to keep them calm and focused you can try this too.  No matter what the age.  Encourage them to fill the page with their ideas and add the date at the bottom. If they just like to draw without colour, that's fine.  If you think it could be nice to slow them down with adding colour to the drawing they just finished, they could give this a go if they haven't got tired.  Do not tell them what to do though.  It's totally theirs.  But helping them to slow down is something you need to role model. 

I have a 4 week drawing challenge coming up.  It's kinda for all ages, because I know that parents do get a lot of enjoyment and upskilling from my lessons too, but mostly what I love about providing video lessons, is that its in the privacy of your own home, and you can set up when and where you like.  You can go back and and start again if you like.  You can use them again and again and share in your household.  

If you would like to try my new challenge along side your children, or just you with them around to see you, they will STILL  get a lot out of it.  Seeing someone getting calm and settled and quiet and ready.  Someone they love trying something new, listening and giving it a go.  Keeping your work tidy in your sketchbook, then coming back to the same sketchbook, keeping this sketchbook in a good place where it doesn't get walked over or folded or lost.  So much value in the habits that will come about, not to mention the lessons!

In each lesson, you can follow the prompts and complete your art as simply or elaborately as YOU like.  There is no perfect answer and I'll be talking a lot about this in my videos. 

So, let's get back to the drawing board (sketchbook, or plan papered book, or scrapbook, anything you regularly draw in each week)  
Jump in now and find out what you need to get started!
​(free for a limited time.  Starts March 22)