i’ve been wanting to try this one for a while now… and we finally did! remember that plethora of stones we got from the beach recently? well, we chose a few…
and baked them and colored on them with crayons. visit our guest post all about it over on moms by heart.
i was going through our insane collection of coloring books the other day, and i ran across one of my favorites – kids’ first mandalas.
when i opened it up, i remembered N coloring these mandalas right around her third birthday. they are so lovely!
mandala means “circle” and brings one a feeling of wholeness. they have long been used as a tool for healing and meditation, and are a part of many world wisdom traditions and religions.
once N spotted the coloring book, she wanted to work on more mandalas – naturally!
it’s an inspiring coloring book, but even more simply and creatively, you can create your own by tracing a round plate onto the page or using a compass to create a circle and let your child (or you!) create art in relation to the circle.
a few days ago, i brought out one of my favorite art mediums to share with N: watersoluable crayons. oh, caran dache, how i love thee! and apparently, my little one does, too!
when i lived in new york city a decade ago, i took a “dry media” art class where i discovered the wonders of the watersoluable world of art materials. i spent five months creating images with only these crayons, by choice.
seashell, summer 2001
i had to share the joy with N. first, i demonstrated (on my own piece of paper) how you can color with these “special artist crayons” first, and then use a wet paintbrush to go over your drawing to magically turn it into a painting! this was met with some “ooooh”s and “aaaah”s and an immediate desire to try it herself.
N created several “paintings” during the time it took me to make broccoli cheddar soup for dinner.
she practiced layering the colors and watching them blend together when she added water.
i showed her the technique of using a wet wipe wrapped around your finger to blend the pigment (instead of a wet paintbrush.) she giggled at the thought of “wiping” her picture. she loved how the colors popped once they got wet.
N made many masterpieces this afternoon… all with watersoluable crayons, using different blending techniques. here are just a few: (click the image to see it larger)
she also made this picture of our cat eating her dinner, which i just love. she didn’t use water on this image, but i had to share.
you, dear readers, may recall the huge frame that N and i painted as a prop for her rainbow-themed fourth birthday party.
well, this lovely rainbow ikea frame was just calling to us for some original artwork to fill it. N was up for the task! we started by painting a lavender (N’s choice) watercolor wash onto a heavy weight piece of drawing paper. N wanted to background of her mixed media picture to be purple like her bedroom.
after the paint was dry, N wanted to draw a picture with pencil onto the page. she had an idea that she wanted to draw a porcupine wedding taking place under a decorated tree, with some animal guests.
after N drafted most of the picture in pencil, she got out our crayons and got to work coloring in this huuuge coloring page.
some of the areas were so large (like the tree trunk and some of the tree top.) that her hand got tired and she asked me to help out coloring “in the lines, mommy!” as it was progressing, the look on her excited face was priceless!
the details are fabulous, and i wanted to share a few…
dancing groom & bride
fox, mice, bunny wedding guests
mama bird, nest with eggs, and squirrel
N was pleased with the finished piece.
but even more psyched when it was framed in her bedroom!
last week, we did a little holiday baking around here. we made our usual recipe-off-the-marshmallow-fluff-jar fudge. then i had to dig up a new sugar cookie recipe because of the whole pesky gluten-intolerance thing. i ended up finding an awesome recipe that you honestly would not know is gluten-free! we got down to business, mixing the 6,502 types of flours together.
we had an awesome time cutting the cookies…
and decorating the cookies.
and admiring the cookies and eventually eating the cookies! (and gifting some)
the next day when N was playing alone in her room, she asked for scissors and paper. i knew she was coloring, and she was being sort of sneaky about it, but we granted her the items (regardless of my fear that she will someday soon attempt to cut her own hair.) after almost an hour of total quiet in there, she emerged with “cookies!”
she had been cutting and decorating lots of “cookies” on her own, and was quite proud of them. i just love child-originated art projects!
(angry gingerman shown for scale? or just because we were about to munch on him... which is probably why he was angry)
there is a day in my graduate training that sticks out for me – it’s the day i went to the studio of one of my most inspiring mentors, mimi farrelly-hansen
this process is great for relaxation and stress relief, as the crayons just move so freely and softly across the warming tray as they are melting… it is soooo addictive – (really, i’m warning you!) i recently bought a warming tray just for this purpose, but i got the cheapest one i could find and it does not have a setting for low or high heat. it’s always running on a pretty hot temperature, thus N can’t do this activity with me just yet. i wanted to post it for those of you with children who would be able to understand safety around using a warming tray – use your judgement about your own child, and always supervise children around a warming tray.
there are a couple of ways to engage in this activity. over the years, i’ve found that finger painting paper is my favorite paper to use because of its glossy quality, though other papers work just fine. metallic crayons are fabulous for this exercise, but any old crayons will do. here i used non-metallics primarily, with some silver and gold in there.
you can lay the paper directly onto a warming tray on low heat, and draw on it right there with peeled crayons. it’s luscious.
another thing you can do is line the tray with foil (when cool, before you turn it on) and draw on the foil. then do some print-making my pressing papers onto the design you’ve created.
i dragged this paper through the image on the foil for a smeared effect
the process is highly satisfying and results are always stunning with either method.
if you use the finger painting paper, the light shines through these so beautifully…
hopefully this sparks some ideas for you suncatcher and lantern makers out there
i made a few cards from some of the prints.
these really do make great sun-catchers… i made this butterfly as a gift for N, since she’s quite obsessed with chasing butterflies around our backyard (and has seriously almost gone through our screen door a few times in pursuit of the elusive yellow-swallowtail.)
simple butterfly made by filling a black construction paper cut-out with the pretty paper
just a petite post about a big butterfly. last year we made these little coffee filter butterflies, that i blogged about recently.
then an art therapist friend gave me a few of these huuuuge coffee filters. so one rainy day, we colored all over one of them with markers, like we’ve done before to make coffee filter flowers.
then we set it outside in the rain. (we kept ours out there too long -while we went to ballet class- and most of the color washed away. usually you can just remove it from the rain after about 5 minutes of getting soaked.)
once it was dry, N wanted to wear it.
then we gathered it in the center, paperclipped it, and attached some twisted pipe cleaners to the center for the butterfly’s body. now N’s playhouse (<– stay tuned) has a large lepidoptera friend in the window, catching the light.
you don’t have to go big to do this — regular, human-sized coffee filters will do.
