Surviving A Mild Art Attack

Over the fall I had been trying to expand the kid's horizons in the world of art. Risking a technicolor backyard, I set them up on the patio, bedecked them in plastic wrap, and let the kids go to town with my some of my oil paints. Both kids were really jazzed to play with my supplies, but I made L take it seriously. I had her come up with a source picture - a study for what she wanted to paint. True to form, she came up with a sketch of her favorite topic - mermaid life. (She has notebooks and notebooks devoted to her hand sketches of mermaids from every tribe and nation.)

Once she had the source drawing laid out the way she wanted it, she transferred the sketch to a canvas I provided and we began the dirty work of applying pigment.

N found it an interesting diversion for a half an hour or so, and he got reasonably far along on the little paint-a-truck kit he had before he wandered off to smear something valuable with burnt sienna. But L really took to it. She was locked in and did a great job of mixing and blending and deciding the color layout of her piece.

We talked about how the light would fall and whether you'd expect ocean water to be brighter at the top or bottom. We discussed whether it would be better to start with lighter colors and then add the dark or the other way around.

And finally we got an opportunity to practice patience once everything on the canvas was wet and wouldn't allow any further working without getting a large, smeary mess. We packed up for the day with a good mermaid start, and a week or so later set up again for a second working. (N found some other form of self-expression to occupy him this time.)

Over the Christmas break we got out the almost-finished masterpiece one last time, and Daddy gave her the sacred signature brush. With a deft blobbing of the hand the work was signed and dated and L took on the title "accomplished artist," having actually completed a full work.

When I was sorting out my painting supplies earlier in the fall I came across a frame I'd bought a year or so ago when I bought in bulk all the suppies of a lady who was giving up painting. It was just the right size and complemented the painting perfectly. I gave her the frame this evening and we mounted it. Someone was quite proud of the finished product.

L insisted that it be hung in Stacy and my bedroom that we might admire it perpetually.