A Pair of Paintings

Okay, these two sisters are simply adorable!   A! DOR! ABLE!   And the paintings they created were PERFECT for them!   Here's the story:

This mom had these 2 framed prints sitting in her basement.   The frames and mat boards were beautiful, but the artwork she liked in her home was more geometric and abstract/modern.  

She also wanted bright color in her kitchen area, so we had some basic ideas to start with.   After viewing multiple images and ideas, a modern art tree caught her eye and after I viewed it, I knew that given the ages of her girls, the concept would be perfect for them.  When people view modern art they so often say, "A kid could do that."   It isn't really true.  If you look at the intricate details/colors/ and techniques used to create those pieces, you would be amazed....the better quote would be, "A kid could create that general idea using the basic shapes and most obvious colors in the picture."   Hmmm...not quite the same ring.   Oh well!  You get the idea!  This project is certainly an example of how 2 very young children could create an abstract painting with some help.

There was only a paper print with this frame so mom purchased two canvas boards for $3.00 each, and then we started with 3 year old "L". 

I wanted to create the look of a stone wall background for these paintings, and figured that teaching a little one to paint (semi) straight lines would be age level appropriate for a 4 year old.  Also, since we were going for more of an abstract look, the stone wall concept worked for her.   I employed a few painting games such as- "have your paint brush follow my finger!" and "red light-green light" with the paint brush.  She was so incredibly darling, and a great listener.  I do think her favorite part was making "little baby lines and dots" on the wall after the lines were painted in.

 
After the walls were ready, I had "L" paint a tree image by herself, but she was a little too small to totally create the tree we wanted, so I did a paint outline, and then she got to overlap it, and add more dimension and colors.  

Little ones like "L" are accustom to coloring and want to use the paint brush like a crayon vs. brush strokes, so we would also "pretend you are tracing with a pencil", to have her create longer strokes.  She did a wonderful job and was such a sweetie!   Here is where her session wrapped up.   Great job little peanut! 

 
Next up was older sister, 6 year old "E".   She would be responsible for adding the circular shapes we would create.   I checked first to see how her circles looked before letting her paint them....she was very good at ovalish shapes when using a paintbrush...sooo...plan b- I added in one circle outline at a time and let her go to town with filling them in.   We rotated from picture to picture and color to color,

and all through the session, this little girl made me feel like I was just catching up with a girlfriend while we painted.   She filled me on the day to day grind of kindergarten, let me know how life is going with friends, and little sister "L".   I was so into our chat that  I kind of wanted to get some coffee going so we could catch up some more after it was finished.  This girl is great company!   But sadly, after we finished up the painting, she skipped off to play her classmate, who happens to be my son.  Bummer for me!   
A great moment with "E" was when I said, "Okay, a really big blue circle here!" and, well, she did what I asked!    See the picture!   ha ha!   So I had a few touch ups to do after the session, but I'm glad I caught it in a photo.  She just did what I said after all!

The finished product of this project was perfect.   Again, kudos to mom for finding a concept that worked perfectly with their skill levels!   I loved what they chose.  And also- because mom already HAD these frames in her possession she only paid a total of $46.00 for this whole project!   Totally worth it.
SIDENOTE:  (Any mom on a budget- TAKE NOTE- because this mom had these frames already on hand- the TOTAL she paid for this project was $46.00.  That included the canvas boards ($3.00 each), and $20.00 for each small painting, art sessions, and re-framing!)

Great Job little artists!