fingerpainting

art: kapria

I love this family portrait Kapria created. I've got it hanging at my desk. It makes me happy every time I look at it.

From left to right: Mila, Kapria, Travis (such a fantastic goatee), and Shar.

art: kapria

When Kapria painted this, I asked her what it was. She told me, "A rainbow waterfall," in a tone like isn't it obvious, Mom. And of course now that I know what it is, it seems like I should have known all along, but apparently I didn't have my creative eyes looking at it. So when Trav got home from school, I had to test him on it. I showed him the painting, and asked, "What do you think this is?"
He immediately responded, "It looks like a rainbow waterfall."

Those two are so much alike! This may look familiar because I posted it on facebook and asked people what they thought it was. One person guessed correctly, but no one said it exactly the way Kapria and Trav did.


Rainbows are an artistic theme she's been following. Here's another one:

I love these so much!

art: mila

Mila loves art. Painting, coloring, drawing, watercolors. Making art is her favorite activity. And I absolutely love watching her create. She's so happy and excited about it, and seeing how much joy it brings her makes me so happy too. Here are some of her fingerpainting creations. I love them.

projects to do

I've been finding some really fun projects that I want to make with the girls soon. Thought I'd share them here (mainly so I don't forget):

• life-size collage people {4 crazy kings}
• superhero masks {shakespear's stage}
• shiny syrup paint {not just cute}
• gnome leprechauns {wee folk art}
• self portraits {andiland}

butterfly art

Friday 04.01.2011

Kapria's art project from playgroup. They talked about nature and made butterflies by tracing their feet as wings. Love it!

it's not a card

Sunday 03.06.2011

Kapria got mail! When she opened it up, it was a thank you card from her friend Andrew. Even better: a Diego thank you card. She was so excited and promptly took the card and ran off to play.

But a little while later she came up to me and said, "Mom, this notebook is broken."
I said, "What do you mean? It's not a notebook, it's a card."
She said, "It's not a card, Mom. It's a notebook. But the pages won't turn."
She was getting really upset at this point, pointing at the pages and trying to turn them.
"It's just a card, sweetie," I said, "but how 'bout we turn it into a real notebook?"
"Yes, Mom, yes!" she said.

At first she was adamant that I not use glue, but I explained to her that it either had to be glue or sewing the pages in or punching holes and using string (our stapler is broken). So she decided after hearing all the options that glue would be okay. Good thing, because it really was the easiest. I was dreading that sewing option...

And here's our finished notebook:

I love that something so simple can totally make her day happy. She played with it all week and wouldn't draw in it because she didn't want to write on her "stories." Instead she pretended to read stories out of it.

making art with dad

Thursday 03.31.2011

On Thursdays Trav stays home with the girls until noon while I put in a long morning for work. On this morning Kapria asked if she could use the new watercolors we'd bought. So Trav pulled everything out for some art time. And I couldn't believe (and felt pretty bad) that we'd never done watercolors with her! Trav explained how to rinse the brush between colors, and she got really into it. Mila was happy drawing with her markers the whole time. We love creating!

Here's their collaborative artwork:

painting

Trav worked pretty much our entire vacation to finish a job. Shawn had hired him to do a painting that he wanted to give to Abby for her wedding present. With the crazy work schedule Trav ended up having before our vacation, he wasn't able to get as much of it done as he hoped. Shawn was willing to wait longer, but Trav really wanted to have it ready for him. So he worked nearly every day in AZ and CA to get it done. I love the style. Does anyone recognize what famous painter's style he based it on?

My Artist

His Work

Trav was disappointed that he didn't have time to completely finish it. But I think it turned out beautifully. He's planning on bringing his paints with him next time so he can finalize it the way he wants. I hope he doesn't mind that I'm showing it off anyway.

Oh - and Shawn made a frame for the painting, which looks great.

Now I want a portrait on my wall!