Gift for Mom!

This momma contacted me to let me know that she wanted a painting from her kiddos as her Mother's Day gift!   Despite the fact that she had to wait awhile (until July, actually) I think it was worth the wait.   Her little ones (ages 5 and 6) painted her favorite flower with lots of texture!  Awesome work kiddos!

Younger brother "B", age 5 started out with the greens for our sunflower.  I gave him some painted guidelines and then laid the paint on thick so there would be lots of texture.

 After successfully completing the greens, we did the same thing with the blue background.  Then I had him dip his brush into some white and plop it on the canvas in small strokes to add the beautiful sky!

That went fast, didn't it, "B"? You did a great job!  Off to a great start!

Now older sister came up to work on the sunflower.  She was so enthusiastic about painting and her careful work was super impressive!    She began with the inside of the sunflower, painting over pencil lines in brown, and then dabbing in other colors to fill in the middle of the flowers.  Very tedious work!   And she was a total trooper!

Coming together!

 No small task for a 6 year old!  In fact, I think a challenge for some adults!  Kudos to you "B"!  Last detail, yellow dots!

 I asked about stopping here but "B" was still ready to go!  She said, "I never paint at home, just play Barbie's!"   So we kept going on the petals.  We talked about painting in lines for them and she had a great observation, that her brushstrokes were like mowing a lawn.  VERY true!

 For awhile I would outline the petals, but soon I stopped.  "B" had a super careful hand!   She could do a fine job all on her own!

 Umm..WOW!

 After about and hour and a half, this amazing gift was completed!  "B" was wiped out so we did some shots with brother and and mom and then mom sent me some more of the both kiddos later!   I'm so proud of these little ones!  What a beautiful result!

Abstract Fun!

Small child paintings are always a fun and slightly unpredictable adventure!  Siblings "Z" (4) and "A" (2) worked on these 3 "small child projects" to complete a large masterpiece for their home.  Armed with the knowledge of mom and dad's room colors as well as painting tape, tracers, and sponges, these 2 munchkins created a special piece to be treasured for years to come!

Session 1:  Today I met "Z" and "A" and we set to work on the backgrounds.   It was a lot of space to fill and they got right to it. "Z" painted up and down on two and mom helped "A" accomplish the 3rd canvas.

Then "A" really got to have some fun, hand painting!   With blobs of a mustard colored paint, she went right to work!

 I love the messy hands shot!

For the final step today, "Z" painted some vertical lines down each canvas and we wrapped up day 1!

Session 2:
When you are 4, staying in the lines isn't an easy job, and for the flowers, we wanted a distinctive separation, so I had taped off the outlines for "Z" and she painted and "washed" the flowers with a sponge to get a nice coverage.  All without a concern for out of the lines.  That's what the tape provides!

Getting "Z" started 

with tracing circles!

"A" awaiting her turn!

I missed pics in the next phase because when you are 4 and 2, your helper needs to keep things moving!  I was so focused on the process with them, I didn't snap pics!  But I'll tell you what we did!  Using paper plates as tracers, "Z" painted the circles in (one pic above thanks to mom!).  We then removed the tape and "A" used a sponge to stamp in the flower middles.   Finally, "Z" used a dry brush and added green strokes to the background.  Here is the image before "Z's" green strokes....

 And here it is after:

 And here are the sweet girls posing with their finished masterpiece!   Wonderful work little ladies!
It was a very successful adventure!  Love it!