A Magic Bean Drawing

When Hollin woke up on this lovely rainy day, a long sheet of paper with a dried bean glued to the bottom was waiting for her. I told her it was a magic bean and that she should draw what it was going to become. She came up with this "fish plant". This was a quick and easy (no mess) way to start the day creatively. I love the thrill of artistic problem solving!

I think it really was a magic bean because Waylon is still in bed (9:00) and Hollin is unloading the dishwasher. I think I will go enjoy my coffee:)

Drawing Outside

It is an absolutely gorgeous day...blue skies, high 60s, slight breeze, sun up at 4, setting after 11--life is good! After a busy morning swimming, then off to the park for an end of year school picnic, Hollin asked to draw with pastels while Waylon was napping. I rarely turn down such an offer. We sat on the deck with our paper and pastels and worked side by side. Mommy drew the trees while Hollin created a couple of designs and a self portrait. 

Love the smile...

Pastels over lace printed paper ...

While he does not always make his way into the photographs, our dog JJ is always by our side while we create, and do just about anything:)

 

Working with Pastels

I have been working with pastels lately and my little artist has been eyeing them up. We got her pastels out the other day, along with some heavy paper, contact paper, scissors and paper towels. We cut a few shapes from the contact paper to use as a masking device. Using both the positive and negative shapes we stuck a few at a time to the paper and started to fill in the spaces with pastels.

Pastels are a great medium for blending colors. Rubbing with a paper towel helps to smooth and blend. Rubbing over the contact paper, then peeling it off, creates bright clean white spaces and interesting shapes. You can then restick the contact ppaer over new white spaces or places that have already been colored.

Pumpkin + Markers

Who would have thought something so simple could occupy these two for so long! Markers, wipes and a pumpkin. And we can still paint it later as planned.