Sunday, February 19, 2006

Little Kid Paint and Me


This picture still makes me laugh. This is our cat Jinx in front of a beautiful vista painted by our niece, my husband and myself. One day our niece came over to hang out, and we decided it would be cool to do a big art project all together. We went to the local art store and bought some kid paint, some glitter glue and a big piece of paper. We were set. We spent hours at our dining-room table painting and sparkling up our piece. We had a blast.

Not only was the day a lot of fun, but it reminded me that I really like painting. I hadn't painted for years (if you don't count apartment walls or trim). One of the lessons I learned was that little kid art stuff is not intimidating at all. So I went out and bought some just for me. It was fun and playful just to use familiar stuff. And because it's pretty cheap, I didn't worry about wasting it. And because it's pretty, well, crappy, I didn't worry about the end result. I just got hooked on the process and on having some fun.

This week I've been doing some work on mixed media collage. And thank you everyone who has been so encouraging about my explorations. I've had lots of fun painting backgrounds and figuring out what might work, what I like, what looks horrible (hehe) and what makes me go, Oooh. One of the things I've experimented with are those cakes of paint I used in elementary school. Today I had fun making happy backgrounds with the brightest possible little kid yellow and green. What a blast.

I'm so glad we had that play day with my niece. It really opened up a new world for me. As clearly it did for Jinx.



7 comments:

Shannon said...

OMG Excellent picture!!! Its so surreal!

Sue Seibert said...

Keep up the painting!!

--sioux

meghan said...

Hi there!

I KNOW! Those little pots of paint are extraordinary! When I worked at the summer camp we had TUBS of the stuff and we also had the kind that you mix with just a little water so there was unlimited kid paint! We even had days when we let them paint all over themselves - there was no end to it! It's so FUN when you don't feel like you have to make something perfect so you don't waste materials!! I'm so glad you are having fun with it all!! Can't wait to see more!

Claudia said...

What a happy painting! I´m glad you´re finding time to get into collaging, there are some amazing artists out there and each piece is different - a good way to work out issues aswell. I always find out something new about myself - or remember things I´d forgotten about - when I finish a page or a painting.

Suzie Ridler said...

That is just fantantic! I love that picture, brought me a laugh, a smile and some inspiration. Jynx is too cute and I love your account of the creative process Jamie. Fantastic work! Keep going, you're doing awesome.

Dan said...

Love this collaboration. Jinx is an excellent art subject (and muse, I bet!)

Frankie said...

What a wonderful picture!! I love that it's a product of the collaboration of family members...that in and of itself makes it so beautiful and precious. It's fabulous that you've rekindled your love of painting. I love "kid art" and can spend hours lingering through toy stores looking at all the craft supplies that hold so much potential. Fantastic post!