Wall Art by Children

(No, I haven't forgotten about Summer Dress #3 -

next post, I promise!)

Today Emily, Jenna and I got to do some painting. This is

something we enjoy very much but do very seldom because

of Kate. When Kate is older and no longer paints herself,

sucks on paintbrushes, or climbs onto the table and sits on

other people's wet artwork, we will do this more often, and

with a lower heart rate. Dave occupied Kate for the first part

of our happy session this morning so E and J were

able to be fully engaged in their creating.

Because this is meant to go on the walls of their room, they

painted directly onto white foam board. I got ours (they were

20" x 30") from the local craft store for $1.50 and cut each

into six 10"squares. We used the little skinny sponge brushes

and regular tempera paint undiluted. The girls got to pick

and mix the shades they wanted.

Two of my favorite pieces by Emily: flower and butterfly.

Jenna was all about mixing colors, then painting an

impressionistic shape, then covering it all up with more

paint. I love her bicolor landscapes (top row, left

and bottom row, middle). Kate returned from playing

outside when the girls were mostly done, so it was

safe to let her do one of her own (middle row, left).

When free expression time was over and we had a lot

of left over paint and boards, I did these funny

geometric pieces for Emily's amusement and to show

her some simple regular /repeating patterns

she could use for making a picture:

Then it was time for lunch so everything got

cleared away and the boards left to dry.

The boards warped a little when they were dry, as

expected. Tomorrow I will probably brush their

undersides with water and let them dry again, maybe

pressing them flat under something heavy as they dry.

Also must remember to spray fixative on the fronts

to preserve the paint.

If the girls' walls actually had color (instead of the current

bland ivory), we might have left more of the picture white.

But their room badly needs color, so we went all out.

I initially bought the boards for an alphabet wall in

their playroom, but decided to shelve it for now and let

the girls just do something fun for themselves.