The Mischievous Mommy: 2015

#2015bestnine

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

January 01, 2016

2015

"Sea Monster" - A Collaboration with my Toddler

December 18, 2015

A Collaboration with my Toddler

"Sea Monster"

by Eve & Ruth Oosterman

Eve is obsessed, and I mean obsessed, with every single Octopus she sees. We make up stories on the daily and do so by incorporating the things we saw and did that day. Inevitably, Eve ends up being the heroine of the story and saves the day by making friends with the villain (by persuading them to change their ways.) Her latest and favorite story is that of the Sea Monster Octopus.

It all began one day when Princess Eve decided she no longer wanted to be a princess. I mean, why on earth would you want to be a princess when you could be a PIRATE!? So off she went to find her very own pirate ship and gathered a loyal and boisterous crew to join. Many adventures they had, whether the high seas or monsters, they overcame them all and soon Captain Eve's reputation was known and feared by all.

One day though, on a day like no other, everything changed. As Captain Eve's eyes scanned the horizon she noticed the strangest of clouds with an odd, dark, stormy purple hue to them. The wind began to pick up as the clouds raced towards them and the calm sea began to ripple, and ripple, until sea foaming waves began gnawing at Eve's ship. Knowing something was amiss she called to her crew to stand their ground. All of a sudden, out from the crashing waves, came the longest tentacle she had ever seen. She watched as it ever so slowly climbed into the air, soon joined by several others. She peeled her eyes away from the tentacles and looked straight ahead and found herself staring directly into the eye of a giant sea monster. The famous and feared Octopus seemed to peer into her very soul and for once she had no idea what to do!

Eve heard a deep, bellowing sound that shook them like an earthquake. A few minutes passed and all you could hear was the knees of Eve's entire crew knocking together. THERE! There it was again, that sound that shook the world!

Eve couldn't believe her ears and took a step forward," Excuse me, did you just say... Hello?"
"Yes" thundered the Octopus, "I did."
"Oh. Hello Mr. Octopus." Eve replied, "Might I be so bold to ask what you want from us?"
"You are the very first person to ask me this," a surprised Octopus said, "thank you for taking the time to see past my intimidating appearance. Every other ship tries to run away from my hugs and get all tangled up in my tentacles, but you ... you actually listened to me!"
Eve could not believe her ears, Mr. Octopus didn't want to harm them, he was just lonely and wanted friends. "We shall be your friends, Mr. Octopus!" And so, after some convincing, her crew saw what Eve saw. They saw a gentle, giant Octopus who was just simply misunderstood, and by not judging him on his looks they all gained a fabulous friend.
Mr. Octopus, Eve and her crew spent the rest of the day enjoying each other's company, he even let them use his giant tentacles as water slides! From that day on, their Sea Monster friend joined them on many adventures and their friendship was one that legends are made of.

THE END

Eve and I created this story as we painted "Sea Monster," and has become one of her favorite stories. Collaborating through stories is so simple yet amazing, you just begin a story and pause at the end of every sentence to let them incorporate a new aspect. Between the two of you, you direct the story through many different pathways to create something completely unique. It reminds me so much of the story games you play in camp when you are little.

The painting began as most of our recent pieces do, with a simple pencil sketch. I always ask Eve what colors we should use and she pours them out of the tubes onto the palette. After a year of collaborating I have discovered the best way to keep her incorporation at the forefront without taking it over, which is sometimes very easy to do. It is difficult to balance what you put in to ensure it doesn't overpower your partner's work. What I have begun to do is wait for her to put color down, then I will take a wet paintbrush to dab some of the color and use that to paint with. This way I am not introducing any new or distracting colors, it is all Eve's color scheme. My favorite part of this piece was her dark purple clouds and large blue waves and for her I know she loves painting in all the little fish.

I do hope you enjoy this piece! This will most likely be our last collaboration for the year as the next two weeks will be a whirlwind of family, friends and holidays. We wish you a very Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and New Year. Thank you for following our journey thus far and hope you continue to do so in 2016!

Don't forget to watch the video timelapse!!

https://youtu.be/VI_OM_zQBsg

2015

Love Deeply

November 18, 2015

What comes out of your mouth becomes a window to what you let live in your soul. As history is set up to repeat itself, yet again, I ask for you to rise above the expectations and raise our standard for humanity by starting with yourself. What our enemy wants is to divide us, turn family and friends against each other for the sole reason of having a difference of opinions or ideology. Only until we have been divided, they will truly be able to conquer us.

Religion, race, occupation, gender, culture... none of these are the root of the problem. There are evil people among us who choose to use a variety of these as tools to spew hate and terror, the same tools we use for good. Do not let their choices distract us and create conflict among each other, tearing us down to where they want us. Fight against the urge to fear and hate the unknown and choose instead to search out for answers and solutions.
History has shown time and time again, hate will get us nowhere. While love may be the answer to many of our problems remember that paired with ignorance we might as well be running in circles. Love deeply AND search for answers, do not be ignorant of what is really happening.

Humanity has spun in a thousand directions the last two weeks over the horrific events happening throughout world. Emotions and opinions are heightened and the inner workings of humanity are bubbling to the surface through hate, love and ignorance. It is incredibly hard to get a grasp on reality let alone explain what is happening to your child.

Our children and their children will look back at our actions and words and I can only pray that we make them proud. I know that ignorant love may not be the answer, but neither is hate or negativity. By returning hate with hate we are only adding fuel to the fire and proving our enemies right, however if we continue to love deeply, perhaps potential enemies may be swayed into the light. Let us sway their next generation by showing them what LIFE really means, that there is beauty to be found in our differences.

Our enemies would like us to believe that to love is to show weakness, for they shake in fear since they know that is our greatest weapon. If we were to put aside our differences we could band together and truly begin the fight against evil. I know I do not have the answers to any of these conflicts, but if we are to learn anything from history, it is that hate is NOT the answer.

Our children learn from us, everything we say and do, we are their role models. Remember this as you react to world events, they are our only chance at a peaceful future, let us give them the tools to succeed.

2015

"What do you SEE?!" Contest Entries

September 22, 2015

2015

"Into the Wild" - A Collaboration with my Toddler

August 15, 2015

A Collaboration with my Toddler

"Into the Wild"

by Eve & Ruth Oosterman

"Into the Wild" started off with Eve and I playing around with some acrylic on a wooden panel and slowly morphed into a new collaboration. I had broken out a bunch of plastic utensils with the intent to show Eve how to create texture and patterns using tools other than a paintbrush. Although at first intrigued, she quickly explained she would rather just use a paintbrush and I had to leave it at that. As a parent you quickly learn that lessons are better learned when the desire is present, forcing knowledge is the quickest way to turn them off of something!

This led to me playing around with a plastic knife, mixing colors Eve had picked, to create the grass at the bottom. As with most of our collaborations I had no idea where this one was headed but something seemed strikingly familiar about it! As the paint dried and the more I stared, I saw a similarity to "Under the Red Birch Tree," and a forest grew before my very eyes. The inspiration for this piece had been so clearly laid out through Eve's wonderful strokes of paint and the stories we have been creating together.

Bear with me as we go off topic (although I promise it relates).... Eve isn't necessarily a picky eater, but she IS a slow one. Slow isn't even the right word... let's just say you pretty much have to tie her down to the chair to get her to eat, as her mind goes a mile a minute. It simply does not make sense to sit still and eat when she could grab and go do a million other things, she loves multitasking... which leads to crumbs galore and the unfortunate discovery of "leftovers" hidden all around our home. O joy. However, I recently made a fantastic discovery on how to get this kid to finally eat at the table!!! We have now turned meal time into story time!

At the beginning of our meal we determine the characters or our story, usually the lead role goes to Princess Eve, and her two knights named after her best friends join her on these quests. I will begin spinning a new tale and she will add her input in between each bite, guiding the story's direction and leading to all sorts of adventures. Of course, these stories have multiple cliffhangers that conveniently happen when she has stopped eating, if she wants the story to continue she must take several more bites.

I have never seen her eat so much!

To get back onto topic, these stories we have weaved through verbally collaborating have begun to inspire our visual collaborations. Princess Eve's adventures almost always happen in the dark and magical forest filled with creatures, both good and bad. It is a forest unlike any other with trees that move and talk, clinging to stories of their own that beg to be told. In one of our stories, Eve must save them from certain doom and so she releases her beloved butterflies into the wild to help her, together they save the day! (One day I hope to actually write out all of these collaborated stories to create children's books, illustrated by Eve and I... BUT one thing at a time right :P )

The girl in the painting is wearing red on Eve's request. That morning Eve decided to dress herself (as you can see below) and had chosen her favorite red dress with plenty of accessories to compliment. Eve watched as I painted the piece, providing her input, and asked that the girl be dressed just like Princess Eve. It is always important to me to not only include her vision, but to keep as much of her brush strokes visible as possible. For this piece I tried to limit the number of branches and trunks so the magnificent colors she chose could shine through.

We had a lot of fun creating this piece together and I hope you enjoy it! I know the very concept of painting with a child seems overwhelmingly chaotic and messy, but I promise it is so very worth it. You can create a collaboration together based on your child's favorite story, whether a book or made up, and hang it on their wall. It is such a bonding experience that will leave you with a tangible memory to be passed down, a story to be told for all time.

Don't forget to watch the video time lapse!

http://youtu.be/WpXvDM603aA

2015

CONTEST - What do YOU see?!

August 14, 2015

2015

"Edge of the Earth" - A Collaboration with my Toddler

August 06, 2015

A Collaboration with my Toddler

"Edge of the Earth"

by Eve and Ruth Oosterman

It is has been quite some time since Eve and I collaborated using one of her Black Pen drawings so I thought I would give it try. These collaborations can be a little tricky since the pen marks immediately begin to bleed when water touches them. While it can allow for beautiful and spontaneous effects, it also creates a fine line between collaborating with her drawing and the ink bleeding into invisibility. It's a line I am still learning the dance to, I love collaborating with her and always want to make sure her work is represented, which is one of the reasons we began searching for new ways to collaborate.

This drawing had an amusing start seeing how Eve actually drew it with her toes!! My mom stayed with us for a week and she is notorious for her strangely talented toes... yes, I said toes. She pretty much has four hands, that is how capable she is at using them to do a variety of activities one would not normally do with their feet. Drawing and writing are two of said activities, which of course, absolutely fascinated Eve. It will come at no surprise that since my mom's visit, Eve has been trying to use her toes to do pretty much everything, including drawing this piece of art.

The longer I stared at this drawing the more I saw a ship begin to form. Something about it reminded me of a broken ship headed to the edge of a waterfall, perhaps even the edge of the earth.

Growing up one of my absolute favorite books to read was the Narnia series, I couldn't get enough of them. I had flashbacks to the adventures of Prince Caspian out at sea searching for the seven lost lords of Narnia in "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." This adventure filled quest came to an end when their final task required them to sail to the edge of the earth and leave one crew member behind. They sailed through all sorts of enchantments and trickery in order to reach the edge where the water became so shallow the ship could go no further, and dear Reepicheep, the mouse, continued on alone.

That beloved story became the inspiration for this piece as I imagined Prince Caspian's mangled ship sailing out of a cloud of enchantment only to find themselves literally at the edge of the earth.

Don't forget to check out the Video Time Lapse down below to see how Eve used her toes!
http://youtu.be/2cUeCJbQTik

Buy a print: https://www.etsy.com/listing/243188595/edge-of-the-earth-toddler-collaboration?ref=shop_home_active_1

STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT HOW TO WIN A SIGNED PRINT OF THIS PIECE AS WELL AS AN ORIGINAL PAINTING BY EVE!

I'll be hosting a contest shortly where you can win the above and the way to enter will be to collaborate with a copy of Eve's original sketch!! I am so excited to see what unique pieces come to exist through the beauty of each individual's imagination matched with Eve's!!

2015

The Paperback Princess

July 14, 2015

2015

The Siren's Song

July 08, 2015

A Collaboration with my Toddler

"The Siren's Song"

by Eve and Ruth Oosterman

The stories that Eve's imagination creates is absolutely fantastic and truly out of this world. I hope to write down some of these surreal stories one day but until then I will happily bask in the beauty of her story telling. As we paint she enjoys coming up with back stories to each piece and for this one it was of a mermaid.

This time around, the mermaid in her story was chased by a terrible watermelon octopus that locked her up in the tall tower of his underwater castle. She sends her faithful friend, an orange fish, out to find a prince to save her. The handsome prince returns to the castle with the mermaid's mother and father and they all fight the terrifying watermelon octopus and rescue her from certain doom. If you watch the video time lapse of us painting together you can see Eve draw out the watermelon octopus onto the back of the paper.

With the most recent of our collaborations, Eve has been helping me "color" in a sketch using watercolors. I love being able to paint side by side with her as opposed to taking turns, to me it really enhances our bonding experience. However, I have also discovered that the pieces we create this way end up being much darker than our other pieces. For example, the Moon Bear, is a bright, moonlit children's illustration and the Red Boat is a simple landscape that holds the potential of a story.

The Siren's Song and Red Lips both come across as much darker, intense art pieces, especially with their lips painted over, courtesy of Eve. The Siren's Song, to me, represents a darker version of Eve's happily ever after story... something more similar to a Grimm's fairy tale. Instead of being rescued the mischievous mermaid uses her beautiful, siren-like voice to lure would be rescuers, into the octopus' lair, to certain doom. Until one day a King falls into the trap and his brother, an artist, comes to his rescue. He finds a way to take away and sacrifice his hearing forever in order to get past the mermaid's enchanting voice and avenge his brother. The artist captures the mermaid and uses his paint, doused with magic, to forever paint over her lips so she may never use her deadly voice again.

And that is how the name and story for this piece came to be.

I hope you enjoy the video and stay tuned for more pieces! We have also started to take commissions for portraits using this collaborative technique so if you want to see your face in one of these videos visit: https://www.etsy.com/listing/238181081/custom-portrait-by-eve-and-ruth?ref=shop_home_active_6

Watch the Video Time Lapse
http://youtu.be/tLCzCkp0XPc

2015

"Blue Eyes" - A Collaboration with my Toddler

May 30, 2015

2015

The Wily Fox - A Collaboration with my Toddler

May 20, 2015

THE WILY FOX

A painting collaboration with my toddler

"The Wily Fox" is one of the largest collaborations that Eve and I have created since we used acrylic on a 2 ft. x 4 ft. canvas. I had an incredible time watching Eve create this piece and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that 80% or more of this painting is all her doing.

The first half was created a few months ago and she decided to add more recently using a bright orange red, once this layer was completed I saw the Wily Fox just shouting at me. Every time I looked at her painting I could see the Fox's eye staring at me over his shoulder, a hat casually placed about to fall off and a bright abstract, colorful coat. Although I know I could have done more with this collaboration, I really wanted to leave as much of Eve's work as possible. The colors, shapes and vibrancy that exudes from her work is so unique and special to me that all I allowed myself to do was carefully add in some facial features, bushiness to the tail and add a bit more shape to the ears and coat.

Once I showed her the final piece she was so excited to see the Fox's eye and wouldn't stop talking about how we both painted it, of course she loves to mention how the tail was made from her adorable fall. (As you can see in the time lapse video)

Here is what the first layer looked like.