The Mischievous Mommy

The last few months I have struggled with climbing out of the dreaded "Creative Rut." With being so sick with Hyperemesis, I found it took a huge toll on my physical and mental health leading me to avoid any and all creative activity. Of course, as a creative person, when you stop doing what you love a small part of you begins to die.

Thank goodness I have Eve to constantly push me to use my imagination and feel inspired by her beautiful mind! The last month or so I've been forcing myself to just pick up a brush and go with it, let the creativity flow naturally and not to force ideas onto paper. With her inspiration and help I have created a few solo pieces I thought I'd share today and we have even started a handful of collaborations together that I will be posting in the weeks to come.




 "Twilight"
Acrylic - 16 x 20 Canvas

 "Bottleneck"
Watercolor - 9 x 12

A reminder that every person you meet is fighting a battle unbeknownst to you, something that is bottled up deep inside. No matter how calm or happy their demeanor may appear, a battle is raging inside as they fight those inner demons.

 Patience. Understanding. Empathy.

Three priceless things you may offer to help them quell the storm, before they explode. Never underestimate or assume the hardships of another's journey or compare your own to theirs, for each of them are as unique as us.

Everyone has their own story, I have never met a strong person without a difficult past.

 There is nothing quite like breaking out a new white canvas and just going wild. Having no plan or concept, you simply blast some music and let the paintbrush show you the way...

Don't over think it and just discover. Explore the way certain colors mix, patterns you can create with the brush or how the music can sway you into a new design.

Eve loves when we take the time to just relax and paint. Today I decided to break out some different objects to show her the variety of patterns you can come up with, it is a great way to add texture and hidden elements to your piece. You don't need to break the bank at an art store, simply look through your recycling bin or different household items and let the experimenting begin! (This is a great project to do with a young child who is learning there colors, shapes and textures, not to mention the importance of reusing recycled items)


This is Eve's brand new masterpiece of the day!

This is a great project to start off with if you have never painted or even as a refresher for the seasoned artist. Sometimes you have to give up your concepts or ideas and just let the paintbrush flow, you'll never know what magic you are capable of unless you try! 

This is one of the many ways Eve teaches me what it is to paint like a child again, with no inhibitions or structure to get in the way you are free to just feel it. 

I know it may sound a bit "hippie" but you truly have no idea how freeing it is until you try it! Personally, I find I tend to get caught up in what I imagine the final piece will look like and frustrated when it isn't turning out exactly how I would like. This exercise teaches me to go back to the basics and reinvent the way I look at art. Art is not something to be contained and manipulated but rather meant to draw out your inner creativity in a raw, explosive manner.

I know what I see in Eve's piece, but what do you see?
(I love how everyone has different views and imaginations, it is what makes each of us an artist whether we practice or not. )
Here is a little video of her working on the piece

As artists, Eve and I are always growing and evolving so I was extremely excited to teach her one of my favorite tricks. You take a spray bottle filled with water and create a small puddle on your watercolor paper. Then you fill your paintbrush up with color and carefully dab into the puddle of water, it is truly magical to watch the color spread and determine it's own path. The next trick is getting as close as possible to blow the newly colored water whichever direction you would like. (Eve ended up using a straw to help her out as you can see in this video she had a difficult time getting a big enough breath.)



 

 With most of our collaborations, this one included, the concept is never known beforehand but developed throughout the process. It keeps us on our toes and pushes us to adapt to change as art is always evolving. I had no idea that this would turn into two little ballerinas but after Eve created these lovely colorful explosions using the technique above, I knew it couldn't be anything but tutu's.

This collaboration piece is almost complete and has a magical sisterly story, stay tuned for the video time lapse and the full story behind this piece!

Collaborative Word Art

 

 

Materials Used for this Project:

• Watercolor Paper (Mixed Media paper can also work)
• Paintbrushes
• Watercolors or Children's Finger Paint
• Masking Fluid
• A quote or pattern 
• Glitter (optional)
• Stencil (optional)
• White gel pen (optional)
  
  

  

  
  STEP ONE:
  Prepare all of your supplies and sketch out your pattern, picture or quote you plan to paint using the masking fluid. Make sure to take your time until you get it just right, there is no shame to be found in erasing! Try not to make the words or pattern too small as it can be difficult to paint the masking fluid in accurately without it blending into other words. We chose several different quotes that have meaning to Eve and I for this project, however I look forward to using the masking fluid to create pictures or patterns in the future. I used my own handwriting since I thought it would give a more personal touch, however you can always use a stencil or print out a design / quote.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  STEP TWO:
  
  Time for the magical Masking Fluid! 
  Take your time and use the Masking Fluid to trace your pencil marks, remember less is more in this case. Using too much can lead to it blending into other markings or taking too long to dry, just a little bit goes a long way. 
  Masking Fluid can be quite difficult to remove from your brush so choose one you don't mind potentially ruining. I find it helps if you dip the brush in water periodically throughout the project to get the excess masking fluid off. This will prevent it from building up on the brush making it easier to clean at the end, as well as a helping with cleaner lines. Once you are finished, immediately use soapy water to clean your brush so you have a chance of saving it. Waiting will only turn the masking fluid into a glue like state that hardens your brush to the point of no return.
  
  
  When you are all finished you can hold your paper up to the light and let the reflection show any missed spots. ( I didn't realize until after I had missed the inner part of the second "O" in the world "Color", whoops!)
  I recommend leaving it to dry thoroughly overnight or for at least a few hours before moving on to the next step.
  
  
  
  
  
  STEP THREE:
  
  

  

  
  

   Once it has completely dried you can hand it over to your partner in crime! 

  I let Eve go to town and she covered it up with gorgeous little hand prints and finger painting. Try to make sure the edges of the Masking Fluid are covered in paint, that way the pattern underneath will stand out when you remove the Masking Fluid.

  
  

  Let this dry completely. 

  
  

  

  
  

  STEP FOUR:
  
  For this step I find it best to use your clean fingertips since it will give you more control and you have a better sense of what you are doing. I know it is common to use an eraser but I am always afraid of it removing some paint along with the Masking Fluid. Eve LOVES this part just as much as I do and is always eager to help. The bright white pops out once you remove the Masking Fluid and you get to see your two creations combine into one collaborative piece!

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  STEP FIVE:
   (OPTIONAL)
  
  Once the Masking Fluid is removed and you are finished marveling at the creation you can go ahead with adding glitter or take this opportunity to "fix" any mistakes. During one of our projects I made the mistake of letting Eve use glitter glue BEFORE I had a chance to remove the Masking Fluid, meaning portions of the word art would never be revealed.

  
  

  

  In order to fix this I used a white gel pen over the letters that would be forever sealed from the glitter glue. A white gel pen can come in handy when fixing little details after everything has been removed. 

  

  
  

  
  

  There you have it! 

  An easy, lovely project to do by oneself or as a collaborative project. You can frame the pieces, give it as a gift or turn them into handmade cards / postcards to give to a loved one. I am SURE grandparents would be thrilled to receive a collaborative art piece between their own child and grandchild.

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  In case you don't have any watercolors or aren't interested in investing into art supplies you won't use often, you can try this with children's finger paint and a thick card stock paper. I wanted to make sure it worked before I posted this so I tried it with Eve's finger paint and a mixed media paper, it came out pretty well! (see pictures below)

   Using your child's hand prints is a great way to include smaller babies or children that aren't able to paint yet. A great idea would be to write their age or number of months they are in Masking Fluid so that you can track their hand print size and age simultaneously.

  
  

  

  

  
  

  
  

  For Eve and I this is only the beginning of many more collaborative projects using Masking Fluid. While I am sure many of them will be given as gifts our first two created together will hold a very special spot on her bookshelf. The quote on the left is from the song "Hourglass" sung by Mindy Gledhill, a lullaby I sang to Eve when she was a baby. The one on the right is a quote that reminds me how blessed I am to be Eve's mother. 

  
  

  

  
  

  If you try this project out feel free to share your photos with me, I would love to see what you come up with!

O, Christmas Tree

 

To start this off I thought I would share a simple activity we did the other day in anticipation of the holiday season. What is fantastic about this, is that it encourages the child to create something out of nothing, providing them the opportunity to make choices about what THEY want. It is frustrating as a toddler when all of their choices seem to be already made for them that when you give them an opportunity to make choices they are ecstatic!O, and did I mention that it costs nothing? That's right, nothing. All you are doing is recycling old paper and catalogs instead of throwing them away! If your child really takes to this project you can do multiple, miniature ones and turn them into handmade Christmas cards.

 Supplies you will need:

• Large sheet of paper (depending on how big you want it to be)
• Scissors
• Glue
• Christmas catalogs or advertisements 
• Paint (optional)
• Paintbrushes (optional)