Karen Dodemaide’s job is like no other . . . a little messy, very colourful, but brightening up the day of all who see her work.
Ms Dodemaide is resident artist and library technician at both Bacchus Marsh and Darley primary schools.
When she’s not in the library, she can be found painting murals or replicating the work of students on walls around the school.
She said she had always been a drawer and when she started work at Bacchus Marsh Primary in 1996, she offered to share her painting skills with the school.
Ms Dodemaide painted and drew pictures in classrooms to assist with the curriculums. When, for example, the students learned about being sun-smart she created big hat artworks to inspire them.
And now when an area in the school needs to be brightened up, Ms Dodemaide is called in to bring characters and pictures alive on walls across the school.
“It’s good, especially when the kids stop and watch me,” she said. “It makes them happy. I paint a lot of [students’] pictures and make them lifesize. That’s my favorite thing to do.”
When she replicates the students’ work, she includes even the smallest scribble. “I just love their quirky pictures.”
Her advice to parents with a budding artist on their hands?
“Buy them some decent brushes,” she said. “Once I got decent brushes there was no stopping me.”
