Category Archives: painting

Painting Eggs

5 Replies

Materials: Wooden eggs (we used these); paint of your choice; box frame (if rolling the eggs)

Since we’re not sure if G has outgrown her egg allergy or not, dyeing traditional Easter eggs isn’t really an option for something we can all do together. So instead, I ordered some wooden eggs and decided we’d decorate those. We had so many options–we could paint them, or paint coffee filters and then collage, or try dipping them in liquid watercolors… we settled on using acrylic paint, for the most part.

The studio became a busy egg-painting factory!

I put a piece of paper into a 9×12″ box frame, squirted in some tempera paint, and began rolling an egg around. The boys liked the looks of that and both wanted to try, too. Definitely not something that can be done with a traditional hard-boiled egg!

G stuck to liquid acrylics (warning: acrylics won’t wash out of clothing). If we wanted to, later we could brush on a coat of Mod Podge to give the eggs a bit of shine.

Daddy always colors eggs with us, and this year was no exception. He taped a stripe onto his egg, and when the paint was dry, peeled the paint off and painted the middle. N decided to follow suit. Both boys also experimented with wrapping rubber bands around eggs before painting.

These are the prints we created by rolling the eggs around on the paper. They’re too interesting to discard; I’ll save them for future use in some project or other.

And this is where I’d normally put the photo of our finished eggs, but it was so pretty, it had to lead the post! A little egg allergy can’t stop us from creating beautiful eggs for Easter!

ETA: We gave the eggs a brushing with Mod Podge Gloss and they look fantastic! Just a little shine, and a seal for the paint.

Watercolor Crayons + Spray Bottle

1 Reply

Materials: Watercolor paper, water soluble crayons, spray bottle with water

My daughter loves using a spray bottle. She’s washed the slider window using the water-filled spray bottle and paper towels (some cloth diapers absorbed the inevitable puddles on the carpet). She’s washed the kitchen floor the same way, until the ratio of spraying-to-wiping got out of whack and the floor became too slippery for her. We have a set of watercolor crayons that’s been knocking around since my oldest was a preschooler, so I thought G would love the idea of drawing with the crayons and then spraying it with water to “see what happens.”

Then she decided to see what happens when you use the watercolor crayon on paper that’s already wet.

Then she sprayed my hand…

and her hand…

…and the table.

This was all about process and experimentation. Fun! As the weather begins to warm up, I’m sure we’ll be bringing the spray bottle outside–spraying the deck, the driveway, chalk drawings… spraying liquid watercolors onto a big sheet of paper… any other ideas for spray bottle activities?

Rolling Pin Prints (II)

2 Replies

The materials and method are the same as before, but this time, the boys gave it a try. They were really wanting to do this since G and I told them about it.

They each chose to print one color at a time, and I only have one rolling pin (a deficit, clearly, but they were mostly patient). N printed his paper every which way, going for a Jackson Pollock effect. (“Who’s that guy with the splatter paints? That’s what this looks like!”)

V was very deliberate (which is no surprise by this point), changing the direction of his paper with each color so that the lines of the rubber bands criss-crossed.

They decided to wait until the blue, green, and red were fully dry before adding the yellow, which I think was smart–otherwise, I think the yellow would have gotten muddied up.

They’re not sure what they’ll do with these–keep them as is, or use them as patterned paper in another project? I think it could go either way; they stand alone just fine. I might need more rolling pins, though.

**

I came across this activity in a book geared towards toddlers, and yet it was easy to see how and why my older children would enjoy it, too–as did I! If you have older and younger children, do you have any tried and true art activities that are enjoyed by all?

Poetry Painting

2 Replies

(The break between posts is because I took over the studio table to do some sewing. You can see what I’ve been up to over here.)

Materials: Imagery-filled poem; mark-making materials of choice

April is National Poetry Month, which makes me happy head to toe. I looked through some of our poetry books and decided to choose a William Carlos Williams poem for this activity, because he is so good with the small, image-filled detail. I settled upon Primrose. (Follow the link to read it, as I don’t want to violate copyright by reproducing it here.) Before reading it to the kids, I told them that after they heard it, they would be making a picture in response, and that could mean anything–how the poem felt, or what it talked about–whatever they decided. I love reading poetry aloud; it’s just better that way.

I waited a few minutes after reading it, and then I asked them what materials they wanted for their artwork. V began with oil pastels, and N and G (who of course wanted to be at the table painting, too) went right to watercolors. (Other possibilities: colored pencil; drawing chalk; tempera cakes.) V used watercolor along with the pastels. And here are the results:

V really keyed into the exuberant “Yellow!” that began the poem, along with, I think, a general mood of happiness.

N tried to include some details–the purple grass, for instance–that  he remembered from the descriptive language.

G was quite pleased as she painted a purplish line along the bottom, just like her older brother was doing. (She also added some oil pastels in between using the watercolors.)

This was such a wonderful, open-ended (my favorite kind!) activity. The boys listened closely to the poem, they thought about their artwork, and they produced such different pieces–as is appropriate, given they are different people.

Do you have a favorite poet or poem?

Rolling Pin Prints

4 Replies

(Inspired by First Art by MaryAnn Kohl.)

Materials: Rolling pin; tempera paint; piece of Plexiglas or old plate (for the paint); paper; rubber bands

I finally got a new wooden rolling pin, which means my temporary one was available for the art room. (I got rid of my old wooden one when I was diagnosed with celiac, and it took me a while to replace it with a proper one. Not sure why it took so long!) This was exciting, because I’ve been wanting to try using it for printmaking with G.

She was excited about putting the rubber bands onto the rolling pin (with my help).

She chose the paint colors, and I squired them onto a piece of Plexiglas (it’s from a box frame).

I was going to use that foam brush to spread the paint out a bit on the Plexiglas, but G was having none of that. I tried to show her how to cover all the sides of the rolling pin with paint, but she “do self.” Then it was time to roll on the paper.

And then she got fed up with it all and asked for the foam paintbrush.

Painting is, after all, what G likes best. To be fair, she was really tired that morning and she took a really long nap that afternoon–and she usually doesn’t nap at all. When she was done painting, I used the extra paint to make some prints with the rolling pin myself.

I thought it looked kind of like seaweed.

A few days later, G asked to paint with the rolling pin again, so we gave it another try. This is the result from a less-tired G.

She didn’t quite get the hang of rolling the pin in one long motion, and instead was going back and forth. But you can still sort of see the marks from the rubber band. I’m sure we’ll revisit this and find other things to put on the rolling pin to get different effects. Meanwhile, I used up the extra paint again, so we have several sheets of printed paper for use in future projects.

So tell me, what have you used a rolling pin for, besides rolling out dough?

Collaboration!!

4 Replies

Collaboration ’11 opened at the Jamestown Arts Center Friday night. We missed the opening, so we went this weekend to see the boys’ artwork. I thought it would be so exciting for them to see their work hanging on the wall in a gallery setting. It was exciting for me to see it!

V’s painting is in the middle of the second row in this picture. Let’s get closer:

There it is, the swirly tie-dye-like painting. N’s was at the end of a row.

It’s the top one there, the one that’s clearly a tape resist. We were so surprised and delighted to see this hanging next to it:

First place, student division overall! I had to confirm first–the ribbons hang next to the bottom of the picture? So that belongs to his? Yes, I was told, that belongs to his. V immediately congratulated his brother and seemed to harbor no jealousy whatsoever.

I hadn’t mentioned the possibility of awards, although V had read the flier for himself and knew it was a possibility, although probably, he said, unlikely. I don’t want them making art (or doing much of anything, at this age) with a goal towards an external prize, especially given how subjective it is. A different judge could have been looking for something else entirely. I simply told them about Collaboration and asked if they wanted to participate. I’d hoped the process would be about planning and working towards a goal and the excitement of seeing their work on the wall–and it was.

I was also interested in how they approached it. V had an idea of the finished piece and a plan. He told me what he needed, he sketched it out, he painted it, he was pleased, and that was that. N had an idea about the technique he wanted to use–oil pastel AND tape resist with watercolors–and he tried it out. The first attempt wasn’t so successful. The second was closer, but he still wasn’t happy with it. For the third attempt, he went in a totally different direction. He still used oil pastels, tape, and watercolor, but he abandoned his first plan (criss-crossed tape and rainbow stripes of pastels and watercolors) and went with something completely different, which was, I think, much closer to his own style in the end. He was much more engaged while he was creating it, and that was the one he liked. I think he’s proud that he worked until he had a piece he was happy with, because he mentioned it while we were at the art center.

We all enjoyed looking at the other entries too, and I think it opened the boys’ minds (mine, too!) to all the different ways to approach a 12″ by 12″ square. There were three-dimensional pieces (that could hang on the wall), collages, photography. Artists used Lego pieces, candy, items found on the beach. There were deconstructed books, handmade books, paintings, drawings… so much creativity, from people of all ages. And there’s nothing like a room full of creativity to spark more ideas. I’m so glad the boys got to be a part of this!

Toddler Mixed Media

1 Reply

Materials: Paper, chosen by G; paints, type and colors chosen by G; oil pastels, requested by G

You  may be getting the idea that this activity was completely toddler run… as I mentioned in the last post, I think our most successful activities are the ones G directs, but she has the vocabulary to so do because I’ve introduced her to the materials. So when I finally felt well enough to go downstairs with the kids, G asked to paint. Her brother and I were using liquid watercolors, but G wanted tempera, and not big watercolor paper, but smaller purplish paper.

She’d asked for white and purple paint, but since we don’t have purple tempera, I gave her blue and red. Instead of using a different brush for each color (like she does at the easel), she decided to just use more than one brush at a time. When her brother began using the yellow watercolors on his painting, she asked for yellow tempera, and she began enthusiastically mixing colors.

Then, G asked for the oil pastels. A couple times now, after painting with watercolors, she’s asked for pastels, and I’ve said we need to let the painting dry first. Once it was dry, she had no interest. My apologies to G for being a slow learner, but this time when she asked I realized why not? It’s a $4 box of pastels, so if one or two gets ruined, so what? And really, I realized, I could just wipe the crayon off if necessary (which I did). And coloring on wet paint with an oil pastel made for some really neat effects, including a scratch effect where she had layered paint and the topmost, still-wet layer rubbed off while the drier layer underneath stayed behind.

But I get ahead of myself.

You can’t tell in a photo, but G was dancing as she drew with the pastel. She’d seen me and her brother drawing and painting with big swirly motions, and I think she was trying to imitate that. She moved her whole body while she drew, and her artwork really reflects the energy coming out her fingertips and onto her paper.

I think her finished piece is fantastic. It’s my job to facilitate… and then get out of the way!

Vegetable Netting Painting

1 Reply

Well, that was an unplanned blog hiatus! G and I did this right before the flu took me under…

(Inspired by “Impressive Burlap” in MaryAnn Kohl’s First Art.)

Materials: Watercolor paper, tempera paint, vegetable netting (I used the top from a clementine box), tape

Sometimes we try things that are only semi-successful, but that doesn’t mean they’re not valuable. I think the most successful art experiences are often the ones G choreographs (more on that in the next post!), but when I introduce something new, that helps to expand her vocabulary in the studio. She has more tools at her disposal, whether she chooses to use them or not. I also think of the advice often given to parents when their children begin eating food, that a new item has to be offered many times before a child will try it or like it. I figure it works the same way with experiences.

And it’s not that she didn’t like this; she just didn’t get to into it. She was content to “see what happened” and be done.

The idea is to paint through the netting and make a print that way (instead of painting on something and then pressing the paper onto it to make a print). In the book, burlap is used. I had a piece of burlap ready, but I thought we’d start with the netting because the holes are bigger.

G chose her colors, I taped down the netting, and she began.

She didn’t really have much of an interest in covering the entire piece of netting. She dabbed on some paint and then wanted to see what happened. I showed her, and she added a little more.

A little double-handed painting… and then she was done. She didn’t want to paint through the burlap on the other side of the paper. To extend just a wee bit, I suggested we make a print of the netting on the other side of the paper. G was agreeable but not terribly excited.

In this photo, the painting-through is on the bottom and the print is on the top. And then we were done.

I think it’s valuable to document the activities that maybe don’t work out so well, first because I use this blog to document what we do for my own purposes, and that doesn’t mean just the wildly successful stuff. Second, it may appeal to someone else who comes across it–your child might love this! And third, because you never know, a few months from now G may direct me to get her some vegetable netting for an idea she has, and if we hadn’t done this, she wouldn’t know to ask.

What are some activities that haven’t quite worked out the way you thought? And did the ideas presented resurface later on?

In Progress

2 Replies

We are working on our Collaboration entries!

V had a plan, requested I pick up some specific acrylic colors we didn’t have, made a sketch, and got to work.

N wanted to combine oil pastel and tape resist with watercolors. This is his first attempt. He’s not quite pleased with the effect of putting pastel, then tape, then paint, so next time he’s going to try tape, then pastel, then paint.

I’ve decided to teach myself embroidery, but in a free form way. I’ve been practicing with this snippet of poetry. I’ve carved a sea star stamp, too. As the title says, it’s all still very much in progress!

The Importance of Repetition

2 Replies

Most of the time G and I are in the studio during the day (when her brothers are in school), I don’t post about it. Why? Because she’s painting, nothing flashy, nothing complicated. But maybe, oh, four or five days a week–sometimes less, sometimes more–she asks to paint, and we do. Sometimes she paints on the easel with tempera paints, and, in fact, this is so common that I couldn’t find any recent pictures of her doing it.

We set up and clean up the easel together. I rip off the latest painting (I leave them there to dry until the next time she paints) and pull through a clean sheet of paper. She takes the covers off the paint cups, I hand her the paintbrushes, and she puts them in. She lets me know if she needs a refill on any of the colors. When she’s done, she hands me the paintbrushes, I rinse them off, and we put the covers back on.

Other days, she asks to paint at the table, usually with liquid watercolors. She lets me know what colors she needs that day, and I check if she wants watercolor paper or colored paper and if so, what color.

Sometimes I’m puttering about in the studio nearby, organizing or working on my own project in bits and pieces, but usually G and I talk about what she’s doing. She tells me if she needs more water or paint. If I talk about the painting itself, it’s to say something like, “Wow, look at that thick line you just made.” G will sometimes tell me what she’s painting, but this is fluid.

For a while, the painting above was a dog. Another day, she was painting a dinosaur: “Me make dinosaur. ROAR!” I don’t look for representational anything in her paintings. That’s not what a toddler is up to, and it’s not for adults to try to impose it. I thought this was fairly obvious advice when I read it in Susan Striker’s Young at Art (which has excellent advice on how, and how not, to talk to kids about their artwork), and then I observed a well-meaning adult attempt to pick out something identifiable in one of my children’s paintings, when his focus had been on mixing tints and shades and exploring what happened on the paper, not on painting any “thing” in particular.

(When G says she’s painting a dog or a dinosaur, she is trying on an idea, perhaps mimicking the way she’s heard her brothers talk. It’s much the same way a young child will mark up a piece of paper with a crayon and come to tell you what is on the note he’s written. Tomorrow, his note may say something completely different, and we don’t hold him to his original interpretation. In the same way, G is in charge of what she’s painting, or not painting, and tomorrow it may well be a picture of a mountain or a cat or a mango. The important bit is the act of painting itself.)

For a long time, G puddled all her paint on one section of the paper, but lately, she’s been very intent on covering every last bit of paper with the paint. The paper with thick lines eventually became this:

The painting that, for a while, was a dog eventually became this:

And as she’s explored the paint more and more, she’s been interested in what happens when she puts one color on top of another:

Books and blogs provide an irresistible menu of activities to do with kids, especially toddlers. I have a list in my head of open-ended, process-oriented activities that I’d like to make available to G. I haven’t gotten to most of them, and that’s okay. She paints almost every day, something I didn’t manage to do when either of her brothers, who are spaced closer together, were her age. (We did lots of interesting things, but we didn’t paint regularly. My resources were simply allocated differently.)

And as she does so, I can see her gaining the language of the paint, how it works, what she can do with it. I see how her grip on the paintbrush has changed and how she handles it with more and more control and precision, and I expect the physical act of writing, when it’s time, will not be too much of a challenge for her. I see her delight when she makes pink and the realization that it was the white and the red that did it. Over and over she asks to paint, and so that is what we do most. And it’s good!