paint cut paste

we go through art paper around here like nobody’s business, which you may have remembered from the STACK in this post from april. i’ve tried to cut it into smaller pieces. i’ve tried to get N to use the backs of sheets at times. still, this prolific artist just HAS to produce, and i’m totally in support of that! i may have stumbled upon a way to curb the paper usage and create a new format for my little artist.

if you watched this video i posted on facebook a while back, you’ll notice how N’s illustrations (or “play drawing” as she calls it) is all about the development and unfolding of a story. about a week ago, we got to a point where N used the front and back of at least 8 sheets of paper (16 drawings) to show frames of the same story progressing. then she started drawing her own boxes to write a story in, like this one:

naturally, i ran to my computer, drew up some story frame boxes as comic strips, and hit print. easy enough. so easy. i presented them to this 4-year-old illustrator, and she knew just what to do with them.

that day (sunday, june 5) she created several comic strips with elaborate stories. this was the first one – about a bird’s adventure.

my favorite frame in this one is when “the momma bird is in her house, drinking her hot cocoa and peacefully looking out at the moon. she didn’t even notice the tv was on because the moon was so beautiful.” haha.

more stories unfolded that day…

once when she was up in her room drawing and ran out of “box paper” she did this on the back of one of the pages:

N narrated them afterwards, walking us through them frame by frame. so fascinating!

we are loving this format over here this week — and i’m sure the trees will thank us!

see you in the funny papers!

summer officially begins today, the summer solstice. what better way to ring in the season than to brainstorm with your little one(s) about all of the fun things you can do together in these beautiful, expansive months ahead?

when i saw this idea for summer fun cards on teach mama, i knew that N would be really into it. she used index cards, but i thought i’d check our stash of scrap papers to make these. then i realized i had a pack of blank index cards in our stash already, so it was kismet. white cardstock is good for illustrating, though you could do this with any papers you have around (think: brown paper grocery bags, used gift wrap, etc.)

N and i thought of all of the fun summery things we’d like to do together when the weather is warm and the days are long and there’s no preschool in session. i wrote these things on the cards in marker. then i passed them to N to illustrate any way she’d like, with some dry media: markers, crayons, and colored pencils.

here are a few of the finished ones that N drew. i drew on a few of the cards (not pictured below), as well… we had TONS! N loved learning about what illustration means by doing this project.

then i used a hole punch to make holes in the cards, and we strung our cards on colorful yarn. we hung them in N’s playroom….

…where we can be reminded of all of the potential…

that these long summer days hold.

happy summer! have a blessed solstice!