Kids Art: Winter Holiday Card

Although we don't usually get much snow, or perhaps because of it, the kids seem to love wintry scenes with piles of snow, roaring fire, trees laden with white, snowflakes and all things magical.

That was the inspiration for this particular set of cards done by the ten year old.

Together, we pored over wintry scenes online to fill our hearts with the cool beauty painted by various artists. Then we decided to make up a simple winter scene with pine and birch trees.

Items used:
White oil pastel
Some Cobalt and Prussian Blue water color paints
Salt crystals - either table salt or rock salt for bigger crystals
Flat brush for wash
Water color paper and card stock paper
Light and dark blue, yellow/orange, and brown oil pastels
Green, yellow, and purple color pencils
Silver glitter glue


What we ended up doing:

1. We cut the water color and cardstock paper to required size
2. We used white oil pastel for masking - to draw a hint of snowy foreground, pine tree outline, bare birch trunks
3. We did a graduated wash with blue watercolor; and while still wet, sprinkled salt as in the usual Salt Sprinkled painting exercises we've done many times before
4. We allowed it to dry completely, which didn't take long because we left it by the heating vent
5. We then took the green and purple color pencil and filled the pine tree in
6. We then highlighted the pine tree with dark and light blue oil pastels and some brown for the trunk; added a hint of blue oil pastels to the birch trees
7. Finally, we painted a thin layer of glitter glue - both to seal the work and to add sparkle

To finish the cards, we mounted the water color paper on to card stock with dimensional tape, adding framing layers as we fancied.

Kids Art: Suminagashi

Our library had a fun art event for kids: Suminagashi, Japanese art of marbling with inks.

As Ana and I were there early enough we helped the instructor set up the stations. A dish of water about 1 inch deep, some inks, brushes, combs, rags, and papers. 

For an hour or so, we experimented with the designs. First the abstract ones, as we have done before with Shaving Cream and Cornstarch marbling at home. 

But then, it got interesting for us as the instructor gave us a book to follow specific techniques to create detailed patterns.

Needless to say, we did not make much headway with specific designs even with the book open to guide is. Which gave us a deep respect for artists who can create the intricate designs, repeatedly, with precision.

We made as many prints as we wanted and brought them home. As we had experienced before, watercolor paper didn't work as well as thinner butcher paper, smooth shiny paper, and card stock.

We did a few traditional colors with black and red like in the book.

And then just used the available colors trying various techniques like using a strand of hair for design, or the comb, or the back of the paintbrush (instead of a stylus), flicking paint in for the spotted look or making concentric rings...

Kids Art: Lines and Colors Oil Pastel Resist

Oil pastel resist is one of my favorites and I've done quite a few with Ana so far - our favorite resist paintings shared here a while back: Oil Pastel Resist creatures, Winter magic painting.

Having watched me and Ana just gather some materials off the shelf at will and work on our own "art project" or "craft project", Oggie is very much used to exploring with the arts and crafts materials available at home.

I wait for window of opportunity and when I hear, "Mama I want to do a art project with you",  I take it as a sweet invitation for me to try something with Og during weekends, when we pretty much unwind at home and get the previous week's kinks out of our system.

Recently Oggie tried this simple oil pastel resist project. Starting from mixing the tempera paint colors from the 3 primary colors (plus white) that we have, to waiting till the work is completely dry so we can show it to Papa, Oggie kept up his enthusiasm and interest.

In all such art exploration projects, the end result is incidental and I don't aim for a particular finished product.

(I find it hard to waste paints, so I try to mix them in small canning jars and when we are done for this session I put the lid on and save it for the next use).

Items Used: Diluted tempera paints, white crayon (or white oil pastel), watercolor paper, large flat brush for water wash, dropper, ruler

1. On the white watercolor or other heavy weight paper, draw lines using white crayon and ruler; or simply let the child draw squiggles and dots and such; Oggie helped hold the ruler down while I drew the lines for this project
2. Wash an area of the prepared watercolor paper with plain water and before the water is all absorbed, let the child pick up the inky paint in the dropper and allow a few drops to fall and watch it spread
3. Have a washcloth or tissue paper handy to wick away excess paints if one too many drops happen to fall and flood the area :)
4. Continue to water wash small areas of the watercolor paper and add color drops to it till the page is filled with color
5. Notice how the crayon/oil pastel lines (or squiggles) resist the color so the white remains white; of course this would work with any other color crayon or oil pastel, I just happen to like the white-on-white magic
6. Allow the paper to dry completely (we leave it by the heating vent to speed up the process) and use the paper in other projects
7. Have a good supply of heavyweight paper as there is a sporting chance that you won't stop with making just one 

Some suggestions for using these beauties:

• Cut out little shapes and glue it on to card stock paper to make greeting cards and bookmarks; for that extra dimension we use the thick double-sided tape to glue the shapes on
  
  
  
  
• Cut out heart shape to use as Valentines
  
  
  
  
  
• Plan out colors to make a collage: Our WIP is an ocean scene with sea creatures

If this project here inspired you to try it, please do let me know all the variations you tried and how you used these beautiful patterns, and please do consider donating to AHA (American Heart Association) via Hands On: As We Grow. Thanks a bunch!

Kids Art: Winter 'Magic' Painting

We are overly fond of Oil Pastel Resist. (I am. Corollary: Ana is too.)

And we love the amorphous effect of Salt Sprinkled Painting.

This Winter 'Magic' Painting seems to be the latest trend in Ana's impromptu art works. It combines Oil Pastel Resist and Salt Sprinkled Painting in cool watercolors on heavy-weight paper to create winter backdrop for some of the layered/collage pieces, or even as stand-alone pieces.

White oil pastel on white paper creates the 'magic': Since white on white is practically inconspicuous at first, when we wash over it with inky watercolors, it reveals itself.

Dots, snowflakes, stars, piles of snow etc., even snowman were Ana's favorite... snow-laden evergreens, penguins on icy shores and such were some of the things I initially shared with her, nothing breath-taking. Most of Ana's creations became Thank You cards we sent post-Xmas.



Items Used: Oil pastels, water colors, faux sable #12 flat brush (or any brush - large flat brush makes the wash easier), common salt (in shaker to minimize mess/wastage), heavy weight paper (card stock is fine, but effects vary with paper weight); optional: scissors, pinking shears, double-sided foam adhesive tape, glue

1. On white heavy weight paper, create some design/scene with white oil pastel for the 'magic' painting; (any colored oil pastel can be used for the scenery, reserving the white to depict snow/ice in the finished work)
2. Use a large flat brush with inky watercolors to wash over it
3. When it is still in the glossy state, not dry yet, but not soggy either, sprinkle salt on the wet watercolors just painted
4. Allow to dry completely and brush off the salt

Some of the things we used this for:

• Book Mark: Make Winter Magic Painting on a desired rectangular piece of medium heavy-weight paper; fold in half with a piece of Ric Rac ribbon or raffia in between, and glue together to make a book mark. For extra protection, I "laminated" it with clear contact sheet. For Nana, we glued one of the penguins Oggie made on this wintry background, and Ana wrote, "Happy Reading, Nana!", before I laminated it.


• Cut-paper Collage: Cut out pictures from old greeting cards or wrapping paper, or create your own figures - we went with the ubiquitous reindeer, penguins, snowman, pine tree and suchlike. Glue them on with double-sided foam tape for that extra dimension. We made small 3x5 inch or 4x6 inch ones for greeting cards


• Cards: Cut a 3x3 inch or so square using pinking shears with interesting edges; glue this with double-sided foam adhesive tape on to a piece of card stock paper that is slightly larger; then attach this combo to the front of a handmade paper card, with mild sprinkling of glitter where preferred


• Rubber-Stamp: We created a whole 8x11 heavy weight paper with teal, indigo, lilac, purple Winter Magic Painting; when completely dry, add snowflake or any favorite rubber stamp in interesting colors. (As before, I like to use food-color inks for rubber stamping). Apply a gentle layer of glitter for that extra magic little girls love

As always, inspiration comes from many places. This combination of Oil Pastel Resist and Salt Sprinkled Painting can be be used for non-winter themes as well, using the white oil pastel to preserve the whites/light where needed.

Kids Art: Mondrian-inspired Chalk Pastels

A while ago, a study in Masking led us to use masking tape and paints to create very simple paintings à la Mondrian.

Thanks to the suggestion by one of Ana's school teachers (an artist) to get Oggie started on it, I was happy to introduce this activity to him and notice the concentration and joy with which he created his "pieces".

I didn't restrict the palette to primary colors, nor insist on simple horizontal/vertical lines.



Items Used: Masking tape, card stock paper, chalk pastels

1. On a piece of card stock paper, apply the (relatively inexpensive) masking tape in horizontal and vertical lines allowing them to intersect to form blocks
2. Color with chalk pastel - a different color in each block created by these intersecting lines - and smooth/blend the chalk pastels with a finger
3. Carefully remove the masking tape et voilà! A unique piece of art

Variations:

• Ana liked tempera paints in primary colors, Oggie preferred chalk pastels
• White and black paper for stark effects
• Also, using ruler, create thick dark intersecting lines with black marker and color in the blocks in between using markers
• For Oggie, I taped the paper to the table-top using one or two pieces of masking tape first so the paper won't move when he is blending the chalk pastels; then gave him pre-cut pieces of masking tape to place as he wanted

Other similar art activities:

1. Chalk pastels: Glue and Chalk Pastel Art
2. Masking: Rubber Cement and Water Colors

Kids Art: Folded Paper Paint Blobs

This folded paper paint blob activity was Ana's favorite when she was about 2½. Now that Oggie is 2½ I was curious to see if he would find it as interesting as Ana did. All I needed by way of motivation was a simple "you can try it with Oggie" which was suggested by Ana's teacher not too long ago :)

Their personalities are such that, whereas Ana never used to gush and talk non-stop at that age, Oggie is a chatterbox. So, he was able to tell me, "I love doing this blue rain drop paint. This is so fun."

Items used: colored 9x12 construction paper (or any other paper handy), scissors, tempera paints, dropper (I used an old medicine dropper)
optional: artist smock or apron, vinyl or plastic mat for protecting work surface

1. Cut the construction paper in half or even smaller if preferred
2. Fold each piece in half to make a crease so it is easy for the toddler to open and fold the paper
3. Dilute tempera paint with a small amount of water so it is still thick not watery, but can be picked up with a dropper
4. Open a pre-folded piece of paper, drop some paint blobs, fold back and smooth down with hands, open out again
5. Voilà!

Since this particular dropper is easy for the little fingers to squeeze, Oggie wanted me to leave him alone so he can explore to his heart's content. It must've seemed like magic to him when he dropped some paint, folded and smoothed with his little hands, and opened it out to reveal not the drops he put in but something entirely different.

He did keep asking for more paper though. I had reserved 6 sheets of construction paper cut in half - 6 pieces for Og and 6 for Ana, but seeing Og's joy, Ana voluntarily gave up most of her papers explaining she gets to do it in school so she can forgo at home...

The best part for me is, after each paint blob "design", along the lines of the infamous Rorschach inkblot test, I wait for the kids to tell me what they see. Whereas Oggie saw a pair of seashells in one, Ana described the same as a person upside down with large owl-like eyes. One was a butterfly, another was a pair of mittens and so on...

I like the metallic tempera paints which have a nice sheen and look wonderful on dark paper. Oggie loves all things blue and asked for just the blue paint first.

For slightly older kids, can guide them to create a paint blob butterfly, with paint drops of various colors. Or for that matter, any other symmetric pattern as the folded paper makes it easy.

Of course, after the first 15 or 20 minutes of focused open-drop-paint-fold-smooth-down-open-again-lookit-i-made-a-<blah> it was inevitable that, "I have blue hands now" would follow as Oggie started smearing the paint all around and on himself. Which is fine with me. It's easy clean-up, washable, non-toxic tempera paints anyway and this gets him to learn about color-mixing...

The artist smock I had made for Ana when she was a toddler - sparingly used as she is such a neat and dainty worker - is quite handy for Oggie The Messy Boy.

I have a running list of favorite art activities for kids - things we explore first and if it happens to be a hit, we revisit on and off, spaced out enough to not become stale and repetitive. So far Ana's favorites seem to be:
print-making,
marbling,
melted crayon stained glass,
water color and cling wrap,
abstract masking - rubber cement, as well as using masking tape (à la Piet Mondrian)
oil pastel or crayon resist,
glue and chalk pastel,
bubble painting,
textured paper for using in larger cut-paper collage work

Maybe as I do more such art activities with Og, I can make a list his favorites to revisit as well.

Kids Art: Salt Sprinkled Painting

This is a simple activity even a toddler can do. Simply brush the paper with inky diluted tempera paints or watercolors, sprinkle some common salt, allow to dry.

Items Used: Heavy-weight paper, paints, brush, salt

Water wash the paper before adding colors for a soft muted effect of blending the colors.

Try different size salt crystals like Rock salt, even Ice Cream salt to see the different effects.

Kids Art: Print Making

We've been exploring Print Making on and off. Each session taught us something that helped us make the next one more rewarding.

Most traditional print making procedures I've read about involve some kind of water-based (block printing) ink, and possibly Brayering. Now brayering is something I am exploring on my own, as well as paper quilling. Nothing spectacular to show for it, but, it keeps me smiling...

Anyway, back to Print Making: We tried acrylic paints vs. tempera paints (no inks), using small paint roller to spread paints vs. just fingers, different types of paper for prints (white bond/copy paper, manila, easel paper), and different tools for drawing the design on the paints...

The informative introduction by one of the creators of KinderArt®, Andrea Mulder-Slater, was all I needed for motivation - the artists and their representative works she mentions are the inspiration for trying out a much simpler kinder version of this art with Ana.



Items Used: Old baking pan, tempera paints, Q-tips, toothpicks, easel paper

1. On the back of the pan, spread a small amount of tempera paints as thin as possible. This is the tricky part, and is probably better done with a small paintroller if preferred, but, fingers worked fine for us
2. Use the Q-tip to draw the design/scene to be printed. As expected Q-tip makes thick bold lines, whereas toothpick makes thin delicate lines
3. Roll a piece of easel paper gently over the top, smooth out with a flat lid, or just the side of the palm, till the print shows through, then gently roll the paper back out
4. Voilà!

Being on a lean budget in these tough economic times, I tend to mimic D's grandma from the post-Depression days when it comes to non-essential things. In this context, it was a bit sad to note another of my favorite local art supply store going under. The store closing sale was a steal - it literally felt like stealing from under their noses when I restocked my shelf with the favorites with less than 20$.

I usually shop at this tiny little art supplies store in my neighborhood that has an annual Spring Sale and really treat it like Spring Cleaning/Yard Sale and put out items on the sidewalk outside the store at dirt cheap prices - that's where I turn to for the usual brushes, paints, mats, even frames and reprints.

But, I am rambling... back to Print Making: We liked this method as it gave us consistently satisfactory impressions, with very few household items, and minimal frustration for Ana.

• We managed two prints at a time for some, before we had to replenish the paints, and draw the design again
• Multi-colored prints or monochromatic ones can be made, we liked the colorful
• Ana preferred Q-tip, while I liked toothpick for smaller designs
• As Ana noted, the image is laterally inverted or horizontally flipped, which is probably obvious to adults, but, is a great discovery for kids, especially when they try to write their name and other messages
• Easel paper and regular copy paper gave good results, we wanted to save our reserves of watercolor/acrylic/bristol paper for other legitimate uses

Ana's Arabic Calligraphy style design is my favorite so far to be stashed away, of course.



The Sun, Earth and Moon design is Appa's favorite as it was his birthday card.



Some smaller prints were interesting as we could cut them up and use in greeting cards later.



A neat activity to explore at its simplest form. Maybe down the road we can start adding complexity by using the traditional tools & techniques that artists prefer...

Kids Art: Marbling

I still remember the "Chinese Silk" saree my mom had when I was little... the fabric was delicately thin compared to her other South Indian silk sarees, with pale pink and cream "abstract design" as she called it then. Now, I can see the marbled textile that it was - unique, flowing, elegant, and gorgeous.

Marbling is thought to have originated in Japan around the twelfth century (suminagashi). It has evolved into its own art form - a beautiful expression.

There are lots of techniques for marbling paper and fabric, ranging from fairly simple to quite complex.

I've been trying out a few marbling techniques with Ana over the last few months on and off. Shaving cream method and oil suspension method didn't get as much enthusiasm as this Corn Starch Size method.

The basic idea to make up a size (thicker, more viscous base on which to drop the colors) started catching my fancy. Now, rather than treat the paper with alum, I just wanted to keep it simple and fun for the 4¾ year-old. That's how the cornstarch method came to be the most popular in our household.

Items used: Corn starch, water, shallow baking pan, diluted tempera paints, dropper, easel or butcher paper, fork & old muffin pan (optional)

1. Make a solution of cornstarch and water to about the consistency of thick buttermilk (I never measured so far) and pour into the shallow pan
2. Use an eye dropper to drop diluted tempera paints (should be about inky consistency)
3. Swirl the colors around with a fork, or leave it as blobs of colors - each produces its own pattern that is gorgeous anyway
4. Very gently roll in a piece of easel paper onto the surface, allow to sit for about 15 seconds or so to absorb the paints, then roll the paper out and set it for drying on a flat surface

An old muffin pan is my favorite tool to hold the dilute paints for this - makes picking up with the eye dropper easier somehow. Of course, any little container(s) would work.

The first couple of times, Ana simply wanted to drop the paints and watch them swirl around. She didn't really want to "catch it on paper"... But, when one of her droppings resulted in something resembling Earth, with its moon to boot, her excited, "Lookit! I made the Earth!" caught me reaching for the camera and clicking away.

She certainly wanted to catch this on paper, so I made the print to show Appa and stash away in the little memory box.



Of course, at a subsequent session, she wanted to recreate this magic, and got a bit frustrated. But, she managed to create other interesting designs to keep her cheerful and excited.

• Only one print can be made at a time, which is what makes each design unique
• After making a print, just use the fork to stir up the size in the shallow pan to make sure the corn starch stays suspended in water and does not all settle down at the bottom.
• As we add more colors the size solution will get murky, degrading the subsequent colors, so, replace it as appropriate. For our exploration sessions, we didn't mind the murkiness... Ana simply loved just dropping colors and swirling them about with the fork
• The paper used for print makes a difference, as expected - we didn't like the card stock or copy paper for this activity, the easel paper worked just fine

Marbling aka "colorful swirlies" has made quite an impression on her, she even applied this technique when we baked cupcakes recently :)

Printing aka "catching it on paper" can be a bit tricky for the little hands - Ana tends to push the paper down and immerse it in the size which didn't work well... so she enlisted my help for printing only those designs she was thrilled about.

Kids Art: Textured Paper

One of my favorites for art inspiration is Usborne Book of Art Ideas. It is brimming with ideas to try out for myself... and watching me do something new sparks Ana's interest and she usually follows the inevitable, "♫What are you doing?" with a tinkling "Can I help you do that?♫", and thus we end up doing a few new things on and off.

Anyway, one of the ideas from this book that I use frequently is to create textured paper - i.e., just paper with various textured patterns. The textured papers can then be used to create other art by cutting and layering.

I like this as it helps me use up the paints I dole out for the kids during art sessions - it feels criminal to waste paints. So, when they are done and have gone to wash their hands, I stash away the remaining paints to create textured paper, using more fresh paint as the mood calls for.

Every once in a while, Ana would join me to play around with creating textured paper. Her favorite is to use fork and child-size whisk to create patterns and textures. We use all kinds of paper from heavy-weight watercolor or bristol paper to card stock to butcher paper.



We can either dry brush on several layers with directional brush strokes that show through, or use aids like corrugated edges of cardboards, natural sponge, cling wrap, or even fork or whisk for that matter, to create textures and patterns... swirls, stripes, blobs anything - Explore and Express is the mantra...

When the paper is dry, I save them for later use in other paper craft and art projects.

After the recent roll printing, we had quite a bit of red paint leftover. So, Ana used her hands, large brush, even a cotton textured washrag to spread the paint all over some white cardstock paper, and then cut out hearts to use for Valentine's Day cards for her friends. I love the textures and patterns she created - makes unique cards, even if they are all red and heart-shaped.



Sometimes, she likes to just play with different tools to see what patterns she can create and how she can repeat/reproduce it.



Anyway, maybe soon, I can share the few uses these textured paper have been put to... it seems like life is just boxed into some hectic rushed routine with just a small window for the cultivation of human spirit... and if I can inspire Ana and Og to recognize and nurture that part of their spirit by just fostering mine, I should consider it a blessing...

Kids Craft: Roll Printing

This is another simple activity that Ana seems to enjoy, thanks to doing it as often as we can for various occasions. Basically, we use it to make simple, quick and unique wrapping paper.

When Ana was little, I would save all her easel paper paintings and use them as wrapping paper... and now I do that with Oggie's.

When she turned three, we started consciously attempting patterns on the paper to use for gift wrapping - either cover a large area of the easel paper with colorful dots or do rubber stamping or even meticulously peel the backing and stick stickers on to the butcher paper or easel paper to make unique wrapping paper. And, as she turned 4½ she found that a bit tedious - takes a long time to cover a decent amount of the easel paper with patterns of her choice.

So we started doing roll printing - not sure if that is the common term for it, but, it works for us at home. Basically, use some sort of a rolling mechanism to print large areas with patterns easily.

There are craft projects on the web talking about using the cardboard inner tube of the toilet paper rolls as they are about the right size for kids and are easily available.

We tried that and it was a bit cumbersome for Ana - just rolling the cardboard tube with her hands seemed a bit tedious. So, we started using the rolling pin. And that really made it fun and quick.

To make patterns, we used foam stickers as well as sponge-cutouts. Foam stickers are awesome and easy and fairly inexpensive. To make abstract shapes, we cut out shapes in cellulose kitchen sponge and glued them on to a piece of drawing paper or butcher paper, then put it on the rolling pin.



Items Used: Child-size rolling pin, foam stickers, toilet paper cardboard tube (or kitchen paper towel roll inner tube), butcher paper or easel paper, tempera paints, old baking pan (or any flat mat or surface), glitter(optional).

1. Apply the foam stickers on to cardboard tube in any pattern, then insert the child-size rolling pin into this cardboard tube
2. Use favorite colors tempera paints and spread them out on a flat surface for easy pick-up
3. Pick up the paints on the foam stickers by rolling the cardboard tube over the paints
4. Spread out a large desired amount of easel paper or butcher paper on the table, weigh down the corners if preferred
5. Roll the loaded rolling pin over the paper as many times as preferred, picking up more paint in between
6. Sprinkle glitter, if using, and allow to dry
7. Voilà! beautiful, original design wrapping paper ready

We tried a few variations on the rolling mechanism:

1. Tall plastic soda bottle: we liked this, especially if we left enough room at both ends for teeny hands, then rolling was much easier than the cardboard roll fitted with the rolling pin
   
2. Rolling Pin stuck with Paper: we stuck a piece of paper to cover the surface of the regular size rolling pin, and stuck the stickers on to this paper. This certainly was my favorite as it covered larger areas
   

I am sure there are a few other rolling mechanism we can try out - Appa's paint-roller seems like a good one... but, basically, whatever mechanism works best for the kids would make this a nice and fun activity, I am sure... Maybe next time, if she is up for it, I'll leave it up to Ana to think up a different rolling mechanism and try it out herself.

And this simple roll printing is not restricted to wrapping paper - we use it on and off to create a set of greeting cards or note cards with similar pattern.

A set of home-grown note cards (with matching envelopes) used to be one of my favorite gifts to send to friends - a "Just Because..." gift - to gently nudge them to write back a handwritten note for me :)

Kids Art: Oil Pastel Resist

We've been exploring resist painting on and off for a while now. First with crayons and wax candles, then with oil pastels (just the scholastic kind, which are not too expensive, and come in beautiful colors).

A firm believer in

I hear... and I forget
I see... and I remember
I do... and I understand
--Ancient Chinese Proverb

I try to provide some hands-on opportunities for my kids that not only exposes them to new experiences but enriches me with a better understanding of their strengths. I try. I don't always succeed, and there is always a lot to learn...

I remember, a few years ago, my 3 yr-old niece drew something that looked like a cross between a candy cane and a broom and exclaimed, "Horse!". And since then, it has been fun to see the "fairy" in Ana's squiggles and now the "sun" in Oggie's...

As described in a few books I was reading regarding art expression in kids, I like the idea of letting the child explore the textures, the interactions between various materials, and possibly allow for creative expression with an open-ended approach.

Incidentally, I've often wondered why "open-ended" has somehow come to connote lack of structure. Au contraire. Children work best within some sort of structure (so I've read and my observation so far seems to indicate the same). However, when the structure does not necessarily dictate the materials, method, and end result, I guess it is fair to denote it open-ended.

Initially, Ana just made scribbles on a piece of paper with crayons and painted over it with diluted tempera paints. Crayon resist or oil pastel resist, as the name suggests, resist the paints, which only shows through around the crayon or oil pastel lines.

Now, squiggles seem like a great way to explore lines - from straight lines to circle and every thing in-between.

Exploring continuous lines with same start and end points, or separate start and end points can in itself be a very rewarding exercise.

(Disclaimer: I am not an art expert, or even an early childhood education expert... I just enjoy reading about these topics from wonderful books and other resources, and exploring some of the ideas therein with my kids, which in itself is a great learning experience for me.)

Art Appreciation post in Saffron Tree lists some resources with good insight into the early creative process. In this context, Harold And The Purple Crayon brings some fond memories... especially when Ana drew Harold as holding his purple crayon standing at her easel in her room.

Some of the early chats I had with Ana about her chicken scratches was quite refreshing and eye-opening for me. I still treasure some of her special art expressions.

At 4¾, she has outgrown the abstract squiggles/swirls/doodles stage, itching to really represent - i.e., draw - the things she wants to.

She seems quite expressive sketching worlds and things from imagination. But, to represent something specific, something that she sees every day, to its likeness, seems a bit challenging. I don't want that to deter her from exploring or frustrate her in the process. We have started tracing exercises, just to demystify the drawing process.

Drawing is a specific skill that can be honed via proper technique and instruction when she feels ready for it. So, nowadays, when we look through books, she picks out the subjects/objects, then I sit with her and make rough pencil sketches to her satisfaction and hand them over to take it where she wants to. The impromptu "You are a good drawer, Amma!" makes me feel on top of the world sometimes.

She picks out her mode of expression at any given time: sometimes it is crayons, sometimes color pencil, sometimes markers, sometimes watercolors, sometimes chalk pastels, sometimes masking or any combination thereof. And sometimes it is this oil pastel resist.

Items Used: Oil pastels, watercolors, brush, heavy weight or card stock paper.

1. Let the child make a sketch - can be swirls, squiggles, lines - just anything that the child wants to represent on paper (or, adult can make the sketch with the child's input)
2. Apply oil pastel to the areas to be resisted by the paints. This could be the creative part the child gets to explore
3. Wash with watercolors (or diluted inks or diluted tempera paints) all over the oil pastels and background
4. Notice how the paints are resisted by the oil pastels;allow to dry

Upon Ana's request, we've done some reptiles, some sea creatures, and will be working with butterflies and dragon flies next - whenever we are in the mood and the stars align themselves properly...

Some of Ana's color choices and representations look pretty dramatically stunning - at least to the maternal eye - while others just look like something Oggie threw up. However, it is the process , the experience, that I cherish more than the product, so, I treasure it all...

Incidentally, one of my favorites for art inspiration is Usborne Book of Art Ideas. It is brimming with ideas to try out for myself... and watching me do something with concentration and joy (and possibly effortless enthusiasm) hopefully inspires Ana enough to do her own exploration...

Kids Art: Bubble Painting

Sitting on the side-entrance steps, right next to rhododendron in the garden, I spent many lazy summer afternoons just blowing soap bubbles using nothing more than lathering soap, water, a tumbler to hold the solution and a straw. Just watching the rainbow colors on the soap bubbles almost glass-like and delicate, afraid to blow any more lest it pop before it floats away merrily... that was many years ago.

I love blowing soap bubbles, even today. One of the activities we did recently combines this love for soap bubbles with art exploration with Ana - i.e., Bubble Painting.

We tried two ways:

1. Blowing pigmented bubbles onto a piece of paper
2. Frothing up the paints and allow the bubbles to rise up in the bowl to interesting formations and put a piece of paper on top to catch these bubble formations - sort of like bubble printing

We liked the second activity better. Ana likes to mix colors herself these days, especially since I only get Blue, Red, Yellow and White tempera paints. She decided to focus on pink and purple for this bubble painting activity, and mixed up the colors first.

Items used: Tempera paints, water, dish liquid soap or baby bubble bath soap, straw, and cardstock paper. Apron and goggles for safety as dish soap can sting the eye a bit and the bubble-blowing can turn into spray-painting.

1. Mix a teaspoon or so of bubble soap with a teaspoon of thick tempera paint, add about ¼ cup of water (or more), one small dish per color
2. Stick a piece of tape at one end of the straw to mark it as the blowing end (in all the excitement, sometimes it is hard to keep it straight); poke a hole through the blowing end of the straw with a needle so kids cannot drink the paint but can still blow through the straw
3. Have several pieces of cardstock paper handy - I usually cut an 8x11 inch paper into 4 pieces
4. Start the bubble blowing process, allow bubbles to froth up and get into interesting patterns and before they die down put a piece of cardstock paper on top of the bubble formation to "catch" or "print" them onto the paper
5. Make as many imprints as desired (we used both sides of the paper) and allow to dry

What I like about these art explorations is that it takes a life of its own, and we end up with a few new lessons we never intended to learn :)

Thicker solution made richer impressions, while naturally, the diluted paints made faint ones that seemed so ethereal, to capture the essence of soap bubbles...

And, after she was satisfied with the results of catching the paint bubbles on paper, Ana wanted to just play with the colors in her own way. She tried:

• toothbrush painting/spraying - simply using a toothbrush as a paintbrush, then spray the paint by teasing the bristles
• making "colored paper" - viz., saturate the white card stock with multiple colors and leave it on a rack to dry
• as well as allowing a blob of paint to flow around on the paper by tilting and shaking the paper while blowing through a straw or two (Ana likes blowing through multiple straws at a time)

Kids Art: Melted Crayon Stained Glass

While it has been nice to take a break from routine and enjoy the Winter Holidays with the kids, it feels as if everything is on-hold for me, as if I am suspended in mid-air, in a limbo, sort of like Trishanku Swargam where Sage Vishwamitra froze Trishanku in space not letting him fall while the Devas tried not letting Trishanku ascend... (some of the mythological tales I grew up with are just mind-boggling and thought-provoking).

I chalk it down to the change in routine - to not have to rush off to work every morning, dropping the kids off and having the days go by in a blur... I am glad to be forced into such breaks, much-needed and much-welcomed, even if it stresses me about meeting our financial commitments.

After busy mornings of dance and play followed by lunch, I get desperately anxious to put Oggie down for a nap so I can catch my breath.

And Ana gets just as anxious as me to see Og settle down for a nap so she can play with her toys that she doesn't want Oggie to touch. Of course, she can play in her room anytime, but, she doesn't like to be alone in there...

Some days we play with Enid Pappaa... Enid's wardrobe seems to be multiplying exponentially: anything too small for Oggie or Ana becomes a hand-me-down for Enid :)

Some days we play with Tink, Rhonwen, and some tiny Playmobil fairy set she has...

Some days we play with Polly Pocket... well, she just tells me what to do and how to dress Polly and Leah, and if I don't do it, she counts me out! Sneaky me, of course, I deliberately protest about the clothes for Polly so she'll kick me out of the play :)

And some days we do little art projects.

I was so glad to find some very cool ones online. There are so many creative souls out there sharing their discoveries and it is nice to glean some simple ideas to try out at home. One of them in particular appealed to me as it seemed so simple and yet I would not have thought of it at all - viz., Melted Crayon Stained Glass.

Rather than watercolors and melted crayon therein, we decided to do the wax paper method to simulate the simple stained-glass-style look.

Items Used: Pencil sharpener, wax crayons, wax paper, iron.

1. Use the pencil sharpener to get some crayon shavings
2. Fold a piece of wax paper half; then open it out and lay flat on top of some folded sheet or fabric mat (we used just cloth placemats) to protect the table as we are going to use a warm iron soon
3. Sprinkle the crayon shavings on one half of the wax paper, then fold the other half over it
4. Place a paper bag or napkin or another fabric placemat over the folded wax paper and press with warm iron; on low setting is better, not too hot; run the iron over a few times to make sure all the crayon shavings enclosed in the wax paper has melted Note: This step is best done by an adult, taking necessary precaution, of course
5. Allow to cool, et voilà! Stained Glass-ish results

Ana liked to mix up a bunch of colors first and then realized it is just mucky. So, we tried just a single color, then maybe a couple, and each had its own unique look that this project sort of took a life of its own.

What to do with this?

1. Cut out flowers (or other shapes) and paste on greeting cards
2. Cut out hearts and share on Valentine's Day
3. Cut out a preferred shape in a greeting card first, then glue a piece of this stained-glass-like wax paper on the back so it shows through the cutout shape