paint cut paste

jean van’t hul, the writer of one of my most favorite artsy blogs, the artful parent, interviewed little ol’ me! i am so honored to be featured on her blog, and for the opportunity to discuss art making from my perspective as an art therapist.

check out the interview here, and be sure to leave a comment just under the interview on the artful parent, before midnight EST june 4th to be entered for a chance to win a set of 3 nesting orb kits made by yours truly.

sometimes we’ve just gotta have free art time… without limits on materials, without “how-to’s,” without specified products. i love these moments when novi just asks for watercolors or markers or colored pencils and goes for it. we’ve been doing a lot of really open, unstructured art time in our home these past coupla weeks. it’s good for the soul. we just stuck to the basics and watched the creativity floooow…

in my art therapy training, we talked about a theorist named mihaly csikszentmihalyi (pronounced “chick-sent-me-high”) who coined an idea called “flow theory.” flow is his term for the emotional state opposite frustration. flow is when you are fully, happily absorbed in an activity, completely satisfied, but not taking on more than you can handle. it is often what happens when an artist becomes absorbed in their work, and notions of time and space fall away. i relish in this creative space, and kids organically go there in their imaginal creative play. when observing a child in this state, you can usually hear all sorts of made-up stories, characters, ideas, plots spewing out – like a peek into the unconscious, coming out without a filter. such an honor to witness.

while “in the flow,” novi has made plenty of tiny paintings that have become and will become cards for friends and family…

novi has also worked on some larger watercolor masterpieces that now adorn her art gallery wall…

"duck eating grass" & "novi in a beret, about to climb a ladder"

by my nature, i’m more at home with the expressive arts than i am with the crafting. imagination plus pigment yields limitless expression!  so let it flow, let it flow, let it floooow…

yesterday we busted out the acrylic paints, and novi began a self-directed portrait painting session.

artist at work

her favorite thing to do these past couple of months is to draw faces. so she brought that inspiration to her brushwork. i think it is so important for kids to have free art time, or open studio time, as we art therapists might say. often we come at them with directives and materials to “make something” but out of these free play times with art materials, so much growth and confidence blooms!

i thought i’d share some of her portraits here — all are her ideas, her brush strokes, her color choices, and her commentary in quotes. the one just below is her self-portrait with blonde hair, blue eyes/nose/mouth, and orange eyebrows. she drew an orange sunshine in the upper right and on the left, the letters “i o v” are for “novi”

novi's self portrait

"daddy"

"novi & mommy. but novi doesn't want a body"

"guy with a sideways face & buttons"

"i'm painting over this one with water"

the one just above is my husband’s favorite. he says it’s “so zen.” novi’s first house picture showed up today, via purple crayon. i love this because i’ve never shown her how to draw a house (or a face, for that matter!) so it is an authentic representation of how se sees houses.

"this house has lots of windows"

i recommend doing “open studio” with your child at least as often as you do planned art projects or crafts with them. sit back and witness what images come to play with you!

to be honest, i have been up to my eyeballs in autumny-halloweeny-crafty projects, as you can tell from the past few blogs. while they have their place in toddler-land, i was really craving some good ol’ ART TIME with my girl.

matisee-esque?

sure, with toddlers and preschoolers, sometimes pre-fab art materials (“glue this spongey apple onto the spongey pre-cut tree, and voila: a recognizable product!”) can be satisfying and occasionally educational, but it does not necessarily warrant self-expression! for that, i break out the freeeee materials: paints, chalks, crayons, markers, sculpting material… let the lines, shapes, and colors come from the body and onto the page, canvas, clay! i love to see what and who visits us from novi’s brain each day.

today i found an old canvas i had painted on years ago. i gessoed it, then painted an aqua background on it while novi napped. when she woke up, i presented her with a palette full of fun colors (acrylic paints) and the prepped canvas. she was so excited to be “a real artist” and kept asking me if i would hang her painting in the louvre. (yes, i would.)

le artiste

then i found two tiny flat canvases i had in my stash (3″ x 4″) and let her express all over those, as well.

my little monet is mastering impressionism

ahhhhh, ART craving satiated for this art therapist momma! (and i think my little girl had a blast, too!) why not let your pint-sized picasso have a crack at a canvas?