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.

Two here, two there

Quite a Spring Break it was. Ana had 2 weeks off, whereas Og had one. So, the week of overlapping vacation was managed somehow, juggling our schedules, taking time off from work and so on.

I try not to rant in this space, but, every once in a while I feel the need to vent. And school closures are one such where parents who work outside home and have no relatives in town, no support group, no daycare/camps nearby (or the means to afford it) are left clambering...

And, it is not just major school breaks - it seems a norm that once a month or so school is closed all day for some reason; and again, once a month or so there is early dismissal (half-day). Lucky are those who have family in town to help out considering the frequency of non-school days happening in these parts.

Naturally, one or the other parent has to make serious adjustments in their work schedule (and be glad that they are able to, and can still keep the job) to accommodate such closures, but I shudder to think how a single parent manages it all...

Thankfully, the extra week that Ana had for Spring Break was a time D could travel and work and so dropped Ana off at Nana's in Canada. Ana had a blast with Nana, it was too short a visit but she is growing into her own person and Nana loved her company. But, Nana has to work as well and she made some adjustments to spend time with her grand-daughter...

So, it was just Oggie and me for a week, with Oggie going to school and me going to work and then hanging out together the rest of the time. He loved the one-on-one attention.

Whereas Ana prefers to do independent work by herself most of the time since her pre-school days, sitting still and focusing for hours at a stretch, Oggie likes company. He likes to have people around him. He likes to work in pairs or more. He loves to talk non-stop. Does not like to sit still.

Oh, he is capable of focusing on a work for long duration with full concentration and he does it when things interest him. But, for the most part, he is an attention-seeker. So, in the interest of sanity (and rounded development), I try to give him more of positive attention than negative when I can. It is not always easy. I am usually multi-tasking and parallel-processing.

Which means, we do have plenty of moments where I am in the kitchen and hear a gleeful voice from the living room inviting, "Mama, look at me! I am jumping on the sofa!" knowing that he is breaking a house safety rule when I have to deliberately take that extra moment to not respond with an immediately exasperated "Get down now!" but rather with a calculated neutral, "Do you want to help me make pasta salad in the kitchen now? Or should we make lemonade?"

And by mid-week of this two here, two there, it was clear that Oggie was missing Ana's company more than she was missing his. They did talk on the phone twice but not quite a conversation per se.

Anyway, when Ana got back right on time for Easter, I was grateful that they enjoyed each other's company by sitting quietly side-by-side on the lush unkempt grass coloring the eggs using oil-pastel-resist.

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: 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...