Creating a Collaborative Story - A Bonding and Creative Exercise
September 22, 2016 Keeping the Balance while Collaborating
I am probably the world's worst blogger. For real though.
I have come to accept that for some people, blogging is their passion and they excel at it, whereas my passion lies in creating artwork. I love this blog and it's ability to reach fellow parents and share our collaborative process and DIY's, hopefully it inspires you to create with your own children! That being said, when we spread ourselves too thin and try to take on too much everything suffers and we are left feeling like we are running on empty, a hamster on a never ending, spinning wheel. I am learning the hard way that sometimes you just have to thin out the chaos and take on less in order to make what you do end up doing... great. One of the things I want to keep up is this blog and promise to invest more time in it's upkeep going forward, thank you for all of your continued support thus far!
This year we have seen several ER visits, two major moves to new homes, Eve has started school and much much more. I am starting to realize that life never gets "easier" just more complicated and you can either sit down and give up or join the race and love the journey.
This year's crazy journey has put our collaborative painting on the back burner but one thing that we have kept up with is our story telling. Pulling all the paints out may not always be possible but sitting down with your kid before bed or at the park and just creating stories together is always feasible.
As Eve gets older our collaborative relationship continues to evolve, taking on new methods inspired by her imagination. Although I miss some of our older methods of collaborating it has been incredibly exciting to explore these new ways and watch firsthand how far Eve has come. One of the latest ways we have discovered to bond is not only over creating artwork together, but the stories behind each piece as we go along. We hang these pieces up in her bedroom and every night she can pick a story that we retell using just our memories based on the painting.
I thought I would share a video of one of the stories we have collaborated on together over the past year. We have always talked during our collaborations from when she was 2 but the detail and consistency has grown leaps and bounds now that she is 4 years old. There is a beginning, middle and end and each one is of great importance, this process doesn't just help us develop as artists but bonds us together in a brand new, and very special, way.
Story telling as you create together forces you to move out of your comfort zone and adapt to whatever comes next. It means letting go completely in order to have your thoughts mesh together cohesively, creating a partnership that inspires imagination and artistic growth.
If you have never tried it I challenge you to do so with your own little one. Be warned that it all depends on their age, mood and temperament of the day, sometimes you will have a wonderful creative session full of bonding and laughter but other times not so much. Do not get frustrated and don't ever show your child any negative reaction based on their unwillingness to participate, even children have their creative moods and forcing it on them is a sure way to create anxiety and self doubt. Even Eve, who loves to create, has her days where she wants nothing to do with it and this should always be respected :)
Happy creating!
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