the painting ritual

the painting ritual is always the same, every time she paints

it goes like this...

"mummy i want to paint" she says

so we get the paints set up, apron on, paper clipped onto the easel. she picks up a brush and does a few strokes on the paper...

then decides to paint her hands

just a little at first, watching the colours blend together, bit more paint and a bit more

 does a few hand prints to test it out

 adds more paint, squishes it about a bit letting it ooze through her fingers

 enough with the brushes, i will just squish it around on the plate

 print print print... "look at all those colours mummy"

"are you done" she says to end

 painting hands has been the thing for months around here...

 i wonder if this phase will ever end...

(its not that i mind, its just a little messy... you know?)

a little drawing

it has happened all of a sudden.

jess likes drawing! yay!

actually, jess has always liked drawing but it would never hold her attention for long. a quick scribble and she would be done. now she will stay with one drawing for ages and then want to do another and another.

this new found interest has co-incided with the beginnings of representational drawing. probably no coincidence. jess had been telling stories about her paintings and drawings for quite some time now but has just started to make purposeful marks in the general region of where they should go. 

the above drawing is one that i am very excited about. it is of "mummy, daddy and jessica". you can see us there can't you? hmmm... maybe not but i can assure you we are... all with "big smiles", two eyes, noses, hair, two arms and two legs.

i prefer not to interfere with children's drawings and don't point out where the various body parts should go, that will come. i find children's artwork fascinating and believe they should be able to develop at their own pace.

pasting activities seem to be becoming increasingly more popular too.

i am excited as i feel that creative pursuits are going to become a regular part of our day... at last!

glitter art

i brought out these neon glitter glue pens for jess to experiment with recently.

she had a little trouble grasping the concept of squeezing the pen to make the glue come out but managed it eventually.

the lids were easy to get on and off though. she went through all six colours over and over again squeezing out tiny bits of glue and then putting the lids back on. 

i think she enjoyed that part more than making the art itself!

painting

a little exploration with black and white paint.

jess really enjoyed painting on the black paper, even with the black paint.

we tried a variety of different sized brushes including a nice wide sponge brush.

 whenever jess has requested painting lately it has been over and done after a few strokes however this activity kept her engaged for quite a while.

we will try black and white on white paper next and compare the differences.

watercolour

 i put out some water colour paints for jess recently.

this was her first opportunity using water colour.

she really enjoyed using these paints, the colours were good and strong, mixing with the water and rinsing the brush was great fun. 

"lovely strokes" is what jess says every time she paints or draws at the moment.

oh and every painting or drawing is for daddy!

(of course!)

red and yellow

jess has been experimenting with some colour mixing today.

red strokes with the paint brush over the yellow ones to make orange.

watching her face during this process was lovely. the interest and then recognition of what was happening when the two colours combined.

jess has painted with more than one colour at a time before at playgroup. the colours she used there weren't primary colours (i think they were a dirty brown, purple and a little fluro pink...hmmm!) and the mixing process was lost on her at the time.

at home we have spent reasonable amounts of time using single primary colours to concentrate on the painting process and getting acquainted with using a paintbrush. this has also helped towards colour recognition.

i think i have introduced using two colours at a time when jess's interest in painting has been waning and i am hoping that interest will now be re-ignited. it certainly seemed to be today. 

jess did a couple of paintings, the first i didn't photograph so what you see in the pictures is the second. we used some paper cut into a circle as we are starting to talk about and look at shapes.

also moving the easel inside, thus changing the location seemed to help too. apron went on, paint covered fingers stayed close to the easel, mum tried to stay calm about any potential mess and it was all good. painting outside had usually ended up being about water play.

i am excited about trying blue and yellow but will wait a while yet and continue with the red and yellow, perhaps with jess trying to mix some in a separate pot before applying it to the paper. 

jess's chatter while painting went like this...

cat, cat on a wall, red cat, yellow cat, marmalade cat, i'm painting a sun, moon, cat on a wall, bee, yellow bee, a spider, frog, cat on the wall, marmalade moon, high in the sky, painting for daddy... 

love.

i mainly follow the outlines for introducing colours and art experiences from the wonderful book by susan striker called young at art.

in black and white

my big girls have both been doing some art work this afternoon.

the top photos are of eloise's art major and the bottom two are of a birthday card that daisy made for a friend. 

clever girls. i am one proud mama.