paint cut paste

from our home to yours…

wishing you and your families a holiday season full of love…

...just like rudolph & clarice

a time of friendship — those tried & true and those new & unexpected…

just like hermey, yukon cornelius, rudolph, and bumble

a very magical night before christmas…

may all your wishes come true!

have a merry christmas day!

don’t forget to have some hot cocoa and get some rest when it’s all said and done!

*all drawings courtesy of my sweet little N (done randomly throughout december.)

do you ever pin like 3,000 things and wonder when you’ll ever get around to them? welcome to my pinteresting world! i was kinda psyched that i finally implemented two inventive and artful tips last week that i had pinned. both were great ideas so i wanted to share. i’m usually in this mode when i’m on pinterest:

(this is from a pin, too)

the first one i undertook was simple. i finally bought a date stamp (yep, like old school libraries used. it was about $7 at a mom & pop office supply store) and i am using it to stamp the date on art work. it’s great for me since N produces zillllllions of pieces and i get so overwhelmed by this task each week. (this idea was originally featured in the now-defunct cookie magazine. who else out there misses cookie?)

since this little artist cranks out about 30 pieces per day (and i’d say at least half are “keepers”) now i just need to figure out if i should stick with the large 3-ring binder method i began last year to hold these works or if i should just start a bin (with monthly separated tabs, maybe.) what do you do?

the other pin-tip i undertook was to wind my embroidery floss around clothes pins. (on pinterest this links back to heather’s life blog, but in her entry, she sites finding the idea on pinterest. the wheel keeps on turning and turning and turning…)

anyway, the idea is simple, cheap, and helps keep it from knotting up. i marked the clothes pin with the number of the DMC floss, to keep track of what i’m using for a project (since that paper tab will be tossed.)

it’s also colorful and cute.

and extremely satisfying to look at when finished.

what clever pins have you tried out in your home?

this is a little frog story, illustrated by my little artist. she calls it “play drawing” when she draws while telling the story (oh so dramatically!) as she creates the pictures. thought i’d share this little ditty N made up in her room on friday afternoon, in her own words, as explained to me when she came downstairs:

(click images to view them in a larger size.)

“once upon a time there were six frogs. they were hanging out on their lily pads until one day they decided they were bored. they wanted to paint cool designs on their lily pads. so they did. and when they did, they realized the lily pads looked like surf boards, so they went surfing!

one little frog (the one at the bottom who was about to paint purple in the first picture) surfed by a pole and held on tight!

and then when he let go and was surfing, he saw his reflection in the water, and he felt peaceful.”

i just love the expressive faces and postures captured in this little vignette… random froggy surfing fun!

i wanted to share this quick and meaningful activity that my daughter and husband did the other morning. it was N’s idea to “be the art teacher” and she asked my husband to copy her picture step by step, mark by mark. and he did. (click image below to enlarge.)

N's on left, dad's on right

obviously, N went on the color the sky, etc. once daddy was finished being the art student.

i just love this impromptu exercise as an example of making art alongside your child and in your child’s “handwriting” as a way of validation. this sort of mirroring is a key component of a healthy relationship, and is one healing aspect of the art therapy work i do with clients. it communicates the ideas “i see you” and “what you say/make/do are important.” i love how my husband is so attuned to my daughter that this arose naturally between them.

try it out with your child and let me know how it goes.

this is a little post so that i can capture and share with my family (and you all!) a cute little book that N made for her great-grandmother (and my grandmother,) nana. my nana turns 91 today, and she got a beautiful book (and card) in the mail from my little one. here it is, page by page…

cover page

N decided on the first message of the book: “step outside and breathe” with a “rainbow-checkered earth picture.”

page 1

then an activity she and nana like to do together:

page 2

nana lives on a beach, which is one of N’s favorite locations, of course, so she drew this:

page 3

when i asked N what her favorite memories of thoughts of nana are, she said she likes how they’re always holding hands when they walk together, and she drew this next and thought of her own caption for it – “sharing family love.”

page 4

then she remembered one of nana’s favorite things on earth — candy! my nana is legendary for her “candy drawer!”

page 5

the last image in the book is a birthday cake for the birthday girl, nana:

page 6 (that's a 91 over there on the right, for her age)

on the back, N drew a picture of herself for an author page, along with her name at the top (which i’ve blocked out for privacy/safety.)

back cover

easy construction: we punched 3 holes in the folded papers and threaded it with yarn of N’s choice and finished with a bow.

i don’t know about you, but i’d be THRILLED to get a book like this for my birthday! handmade gifts are just so special – what types of gifts do your kids create for grandparents?

a few mornings ago, N ran into our bedroom the minute she woke and said, “i need to go outside on the sidewalk with a chair, paper, and crayons right now!” my husband and i rubbed our eyes and asked if she could wait a moment… eventually he threw on some clothes and took her across the street (in her pjs) while i spied on them through the window made breakfast.

she has a mission, and got straight to it (while my husband snapped photos of the process on his iphone. yeah, by now he knows a good blog unfolding when he sees it.)

eventually she shared with him what she was drawing — the tree in our yard.

here’s the beautiful tree in the flesh

when she was finished, she proudly ran into the house to show me the tree. she loved how the clipboard she used allowed for the little white space at the top, which is where she chose to write her name.

she remarked, “i’ve never drawn a tree like this before. i usually draw a brown rectangle and a puffy green top for a tree, but that’s not what trees look like! THIS is what trees look like! tree trunks have lots of colors in them, and sometimes branches are all scraggled.” later that day (once dressed) she asked to go out in the backyard to make another “realistic drawing.”

this time, the lavender.

and after daddy got home from work, they went down the block again so she could get to know another tree pretty well.

since these bush and tree observations occurred, she has also been sitting outside drawing houses and other plants, and really paying close attention to what her eye sees. another self-motivated art activity, and it’s just so wonderful to watch it all happen!

aside from the art projects we do around here, N spends anywhere from 1-3 hours per day drawing. this month, i’ve noticed a few new additions to her artistic development, and i wanted to share some of my favorite creations from july with you all. (but gosh, it’s hard to choose!) you can click on any image below to open the larger sized version of it to look more closely.

i am intrigued by how parts of the faces are covered in this image, and how the features are continued around the white parts:

"mascots"

while we’re on the topic of parts being covered, the image below shows foxes in different spots, and parts of their bodies are hidden by trees and clouds:

"how many foxes do you see here?"

N has enjoyed drawing tables and chairs for the past couple of years – i just love this one:

"the cafe"

whimsical animals are always a fav… she’s really into outlining everything now in pencil or black and then coloring it in:

"animal friends"

while we’re on the animal topic, the lucky girl in this image has a merry-go-round in her front yard:

"merry-go-round"

loving this dude so much that i want him on a t-shirt:

"weird guy"

inspired by the horses on the beach on our vacation:

"magical horses"

not only do i love how much is going on in the picture below, but N’s use of shadows under the figures is a new thing. (she says the gray marks under the ground line are shadows of the figures above them.) the zig-zag-like squiggles near the figures’ mouths mean that they’re talking. hee hee.

"playtime"

the image below is about finding the silly things happening on the playground… yes, the girl in the upper right is naked and peeing on the bounce house.

"how many silly things do you see in this picture?"

another nude “with a cool arrow design on her” – tee hee:

"naked girl"

"surfers"

"squirrel with his dinner"

"outer space"

and one last one i just love…

"home"

most of our days consist of this: N chilling at her art desk with her crayons and pencils just cranking out the pictures, telling stories about them while she draws. i LOVE these parts of the day. i know she is fully in the flow and engaged in what she calls “play drawing.” i enjoy seeing the world through her perspective in her art, as all of her images are completely authentic to her eye since i’ve never taught her how to draw anything. thank you for letting me share these with you, dear readers. in all honesty, sometimes i wonder how i get any other art activities up on this blog.

aaand happy half-birthday to N, who turned 4.5 this week! thanks for all who chimed in on my facebook page about celebrating half-birthdays in your home – glad we’re not alone!