Yellowknife (May 07/04) - Wendy Lee's brushes and tubes of acrylic paint are just inches away from the bookshelves.

She could have done the mural at home, but the artist chose to paint her canvas mural for the Yellowknife Public Library's children's section on site.

"It's neat working in this environment," said Lee.

"It's interactive. The kids ask lots of questions."

As if on cue, a head pops up from behind a bookshelf and a girl asks Lee what she's doing.

The NWT Arts Council, which is funding the mural, also provided money for Lee to teach two workshops for children about mural painting. The second workshop, aimed at teens 12 to 15, will be held tomorrow at the library meeting room, 1 to 4 p.m.

The first workshop, a couple of months ago, for children 9 to 12 was Lee's first time teaching kids. Lee showed the children techniques of larger scale paintings, such as how to enlarge a smaller sketch onto a large canvas by using a grid.

"It's different," she said. "They ask really interesting questions."

Some of the kid's questions have been about colour theory or just how to do things. For many kids it was their first time using acrylic paint and canvases.

It made Lee wonder whether kids were getting enough art instruction at school. Now she volunteers at J.H. Sissons school doing art with the students in her son's Grade 1 class every week.

Tropical brightness

The six foot by five foot canvas will be painted in bright colours. The scene is a tropical rainforest with animals hiding in foliage so kids and parents can play eye-spy with the painting.

Though Lee usually does much smaller paintings on silk, this is not Lee's first mural.

She has received compliments from patients about a mural she painted for the waiting area of Stanton Hospital's operating room.

The kids' section will also feature a Northern-themed painting by John Sabourin.