....And plenty of it to drink.
Yuck.
I'm one of those moms who, on a whim of insanity, thinks, "Hey, I should let the 3 year old and the 2 year old paint!"
Gracie has finally proved to to me that she can behave herself when the paints come out -- though I can tell you now, when black watercolor gets absorbed into the white walls, no amount of cleaning, priming or re-painting can make the darned stuff go away.
Now Annelie is trying her hands... and face, and teeth and clothes, at painting and is loving every second of it, so the mess is worth it to me.
I have a love/hate relationship with watercolors, myself. I love how they look - LOVE how they look - when other people paint them... but I just hate the way the slippery stuff controls me when its my turn to paint with them. Colored pencils are predictable. You draw a line, you blend it in, and it stays that way always.
But watercolors.... they have a mind of their own and right now I have no idea what they are thinking. I paint a line, I blend it in, and then, when my back is turned, all sorts of crazy stuff happens. Sometimes, the line blurs, sometimes it fades to a pale wash when it is supposed to be vibrant, sometimes it gets mucky and brown when it is supposed to be lovely... I can hardly handle the aggravation. 
But you know the old saying. When at first you don't succeed, try, try again. I've failed more times than I can count, when it comes to watercolors, but I'm not giving up, because I just love the look of watercolors so much.
Plus, they are the only medium I can think of where I can sit next to my kids and work. If Annelie flings anything toward a colored pencil illustration, it is as good as ruined... but with a watercolor, I can blend it and fudge it to make it look like the dots and smears were done on purpose (thanks, Annelie). And sitting down and creating art with my two little girls is probably one of the best feelings I can have.
I love my little girls and I love how creative they are... and sometimes that is worth much more than a mouthful of blue Crayola.
Enjoy!
xoxo,
10 comments:
ha! that first shot reminds me of someone I know... it looks like you have so much fun with your girls. I'm really looking forward to doing art projects with my little guy when he's old enough. He's figured out that mommy writes with pens, so when he has one in his hand, he "writes" on whatever is nearby...yikes...
that first pic is hilarious! did she actually drink it? your watercolor painting is way better than anything i could ever do and i love it...watercolors are actually my favorite...can you believe we don't own any watercolors? I need to go get some...
Yum. :o) Your owl painting looks really nice though, I like the tree shading. And isn't it weird how kids will eat paint, but you can't get them to eat dinner? So odd. I'm serving Crayola tonight.
Many years ago, one of my dad's co-workers did watercolors and was good enough to show in galleries. My dad once asked him how long it took him to do a painting and he replied that he usually had to do the painting 3 times before it came out right!
So keep going with the watercolors! Especially because it is something you can share with your girls!
Oh... and if you really need a solution to cover up that black watercolor, try Kilz primer. It will work on almost anything that bleeds through regular primer & paint. Should help to make those painting sessions with your girls much less stressful!
How sweet! I've tried beading with my girls (i give them big plastic beads) and it's a disaster! Beads end up ALL over the place!
Too funny! I have the same problem with watercolors - I just CAN'T make them behave the way I think they should. So I've vowed to stick to my graphite pencils and admire others' watercolor efforts. My mother is an amazing watercolorist.
Kate
Its for that messyness alone that I love Crayola Color Wonder paper!
how fun!! I haven't pulled out the watercolors with my daughter yet. I used to pull all that out with my son...finger paints are fun. That might be fun tomorrow. Today the kids played playdoh...should have taken pictures.
Your waterpainting is very very pretty!!
Oh, you're making me want to get out the watercolors! I love watercolors too. And I agree that they are next to impossible to control. I'm thinking an easier way to get the look is to take a loved photograph and photoshop it to look like watercolor. Then print it onto watercolor paper.
Oh my!! And here I thought I was adventurous giving my 2 year old crayons. Water, paint, and the boy? Ummm, can he come to your house?..LOL..
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