Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Blue and Yellow Play


"Little Tippy the paintbrush awakes from his nap and heads off to wash his feet. Wet toes are not much fun so he gently wipes them on the side of the bathtub and then dries them on his towel. Tippy loves to play with colour and today blue has decided to come out and play. Blue is happy at first, swirling across the page, but soon he gets a little sad, he really wishes he had someone to play with. Tippy washes his toes again, gently wipes them on the side of the tub and dries them on his towel. When he is finished a new friend appears, it is yellow. Yellow is so happy, and excitedly joins blue on the page to play. The two colours have a fun time playing."

This is the little story I told Reece last week when we sat down for our wet on wet watercolour session, and above is the completed painting from that session. We have been doing wet on wet watercolour for about a year now, but lately I have really noticed a shift in his technique. There is a softness in how he holds the brush and a lighter quality in how he moves it across the page. There were many times over the last year I wanted to correct him, show him how to hold the brush, how to sweep it across the page, but I didn't. I just sat beside him, sharing a story about Tippy and painting on my own piece of watercolour paper. Hard sometimes yes, but the last month or so has been the payoff, watching his technique and style change, seeing how he works with the colours and how he takes the story and makes it his own on the paper, well, it has been pretty darn amazing!

This journey my little man is taking continues to amaze and inspire me in so many ways. I am so very happy to be along for the ride.

20 comments:

  1. That's a lovely story. I did something very similar yesterday with red and yellow (the only two liquid watercolours I have at the moment). We are just starting out on our wet-on-wet watercolour journey so it's nice to read about your experiences.

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    1. Thanks Halina :) Oh red and yellow are so much fun to play with, I bet it was a great time!

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  2. Oh, what a beautiful story, funny, because I am planning to start a little wet on wet project for my 2-3 year olds at work! I am curious if they will master it!

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    1. Thanks Karin-Ida. I bet they will love it, have fun!

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  3. I love that Tippy story! What a great way to inspire little ones. I usually draw/paint with my boys too and we all learn as we go.

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    1. Thanks Elisa. It is so much fun to sit beside them and create, we love it!

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  4. As mamas we want to correct and show them the way to do everything...yet, because you held off, you allowed Reece to find his own rhythm, his own style. Beautiful picture indeed :0) mari

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    1. I think it is one of the hardest parts of motherhood, standing back and keeping my mouth shut :) There are times I want to step in, give him the answer, show him how to do something or even just lend a hand, but I stop myself. This is his journey to discover and I want him to experience life for himself and all that goes with it, both the successes and the failures :)

      I read this quote early in motherhood and it is always in the back of my mind...“When you teach a child something you take away forever his chance of discovering it for himself.” Jean Piaget

      I have become really good at the art of asking questions, letting him think, ask questions and come up with an answer.

      None of it is easy, but so rewarding.

      Thank you!

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    2. You have just described the reason why I homeschool :0) Thank you Kim!

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  5. What a lovely, inspirational post. And I loved your Tippy story! What a great way to discover art together.

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    1. Thanks so much. We have so much fun with watercolours. Today we played with red and blue :)

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  6. This is so neat! I try to have the girls explore water colors and I found that after I told them a story about the brush similar to yours it was soooo much easier. They were gentiler with the brushes and paint. I too find it so hard to bit my tongue and let them explore. Each girl is different in how she accepts instructions as well. With S I cannot show her how until she invites me too. With V she watches intently and practises over and over and over.

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  7. This is so wonderful! The watercolour immediately caught my eye as I am working with the same medium at the moment. I love the story you tell as you create with Reece. What a great idea! I have thought of making some of my creating time 'our' creating time and I love the way you do it.

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    1. Thanks so much. I love creating with Reece, side by side. It takes the pressure off me to always be "on", if you know what I mean. I can focus on my work, he can focus on his and every once in a while we take a peek at the others work or we chat a little bit. It is really nice.

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  8. So creative, and beautiful!!!
    xoxo

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