COEUR d'ALENE — The only way to turn a canvas into a work of art is to start.

"What I think about art is you should be able to fail because you tried," Coeur d'Alene oil painter Stephen Shortridge said Tuesday afternoon over a hubbub of first graders putting finishing details on their paintings.

"When it comes to art and education, it's not about getting it right or perfect," he said. "It's about whether you tried your best and that you're happy with what you tried."

Shortridge, who specializes in Romantic impressionism, has been working with students of all grades at Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities as the winter artist-in-residence since Jan. 27.

Each little painting is as unique as the student who painted it. Young imaginations have flowed onto canvases in the forms of lake sunsets, mountain waterfalls, sunrises, rainbows, bald eagles, elk, elephants, crocodiles and sea creatures.

"You can't really go wrong. Their work is always so different and colorful," Shortridge said. "They see how they can do stuff and it can be so much fun. You can't make this stuff up."

First grader Henry Barnett painted a deep blue alpine lake beneath a colorful sky.

"It's a picture in my room," he said. "So when I just look up it will remind me of my room."

He said he loves to draw and sketch.

"Painting's not really my thing, but I know how to put the colors together," he said.

First grader Kam Allen titled his crocodile painting "Chomper Chomp."

"I don't want a real one, but I like crocodiles, so I painted one," he said.

Hazel Wolters called her piece "Rainbow Falls."

"I really like waterfalls and rainbows," she said.

She said she enjoyed having Shortridge as a guest artist.

"I've really like hanging out with him," she said.

Fifth grader Cheyenne Farris said she was excited to work with Shortridge.

"It's very fun to paint with him because he shows us lots of cool paintings and he helps us with sketching," she said.

Matt Ebberts painted a fine layer of light blue on his canvas as he started filling in sketch lines depicting a scene around Tubbs Hill. He said he also has enjoyed having Shortridge at Sorensen.

"He's been teaching us a lot about perspective, like how things can be farther away and smaller and more detailed and bigger when they're closer, and all the layers," he said.

Shortridge's last day with the students is Friday.

"What I love about having Stephen here is the wisdom he's giving them between all the lessons," Sorensen Art Director Anne Mitchell said.

The small canvases painted by the students will be permanently mounted in the hallways of the school as a legacy project they can enjoy throughout their Sorensen experience and return to view later in their lives.

The artist-in-residence program is funded through proceeds from the Sorensen Annual Auction, which is organized and carried out by the Sorensen community of family, friends and businesses.

"What's great about this program is we're doing something different every time," Mitchell said.

In the fall, the program introduced the students to martial arts via Taekwondo.

"They went from doing something super physical to where now they have to use different parts of their brain, and it features different students' strengths," she said.

    Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities first grader Jace Hamill signs his painting Tuesday with assistance from artist-in-residence Stephen Shortridge.
  

    Stephen Shortridge shares artistic words of wisdom with first graders Tuesday at Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities.

    Fifth graders Matthew Ebberts and Cheyenne Farris are in the painting zone Tuesday at Sorensen Magnet School.