Soar Like Eagles

Q&A: Creating an Artful Life with Kids

Months ago, I received an email from a friend. With her permission, I've posted part of it here:

Q: "I love the pictures you post of you and your girls doing artistic, fun things together. I love seeing what your daughters come up with, and how creative they are, just like their mama. The reason I'm writing you is because I want help. Lol! I want to know how you started being creative with your kids, how old they were when you taught them how to journal and create with various media, and how you encourage artistic creativity without feeling like you're forcing an ideal upon them.

I want to be creative with my girls. I want them to get the chance, from a young age, to draw, trace, paint, colour, write, sketch, or whatever. I want them to have the chance to ENJOY art. Because I don't know how to approach something I'm not good at. 

Any suggestions/advice/tips? Thanks for your time."

A:

First of all, thanks for your question, and my sincere apologies for taking so long to answer it. 

I didn't always do art. I spent the better part of my life pushing against anything that suggested I even try. I told myself I was a writer, I was creative, but in no way was I an artist or the least bit artistic. I journaled, I wrote, I scrapbooked, I doodled, I collaged. But I drew the line at anything requiring a paint brush. I knew absolutely nothing about canvases, brushes, different types of paint, etc... and am still slowly learning my way around those sort of supplies.

When my firstborn daughter was about 1 or 1-1/2 years old, I bought jumbo crayons. Crayons didn't intimidate me in the slightest. I bought coloring books, activity books, notebooks, and little journals in the years to come. 

At some point I bought WASHABLE Crayola watercolor paints for kids. Emphasis on washable. At that point I was very hung on up messy, and anything that was going to be messy I resisted. Especially if it was unfamiliar. I would bake cookies from scratch, but painting was out of my realm.

So to start with, there were crayons, white printer paper, and washable watercolor paint sets that came with a single kids paintbrush. That's where we started. You can get all of that for $10. It's a basic place to start -- blank surface + color.

Color + Heart = Art.

Through the years, we've learned together, the girls and I, about canvases (buy packs at art/craft stores to save money), different types of paper, and various media such as pencils, paints, oil pastels, etc...

If you're ready for a little more than Crayola's basic art supplies for kids, you might buy a combo pack of paintbrushes of assorted sizes, a pad of watercolor and mixed-media paper, a spiral bound blank book for each child, and some inexpensive but surprisingly nice quality watercolors. I LOVE these Loew-Cornell Simply Art Watercolor Cakes. Under $7, luscious colors, and I have personally used this set for over a year for all of my art journaling and art projects. 

Some additional supplies you might consider are easel rolls of white paper, construction paper, glue, Mod Podge, markers, gel pens, and stickers. When we went "Back to School" shopping for this year of learning at home, we bought each girl a sketchbook, a paint and marker paper pad, whatever new crayons/makers/paints they were low on or had used up. Art is incorporated in our home learning and playing.

For a person who had no artistic experience, and was quite frankly completely intimidated by anything art-related, I have learned to whole-heartedly embrace art and its messiness. 

If you're worried about the mess involved, I recommend a drop cloth or old sheet, art smocks or aprons, Mr. Clean magic erasers, all-purpose cleaner sprays, and paper towels. The type of media (paint, markers, etc...) you purchase can make the clean up process easy-peasy or a little more of a challenge, so consider before it goes in your shopping cart what level of clean-up commitment you are prepared for.

My girls are 9 and 6 now, and there's only one art product we own that I'm not prepared to clean up on a daily basis, and that's tempera paint. It's messier and thicker, and will temporarily stain skin. When we use that kind of paint, I need to know that we're staying home all day or at least have a several hour chunk of time I can devote.  Sometimes for school we have Art Day, and that's the type of day I usually pull out the more messy, time-consuming paint and craft projects, like homemade Play-doh.

As for my art "philosophy," I believe everyone has the ability to be artistic. I think art and creativity are things we need to introduce kids to at a young age, and make available for them to explore throughout their growing-up years. I believe fervently that life will knock you around, and that we all, regardless of age or background, need something to help us process, heal, and calm. For some that might be running or some type of sport. For others that might be gardening, baking, or music. Or it might be journaling or painting or doodling. I want to be the kind of parent who introduces my kids to a variety of activities that they can choose from when they need a place of solace, inspiration, or therapy.

There's no right way to do art. There are no mistakes. Art should not be graded. Just give your kids some tools to explore and make something colorful. Hang it, frame it, and show them their art has value.

Create together. If you sit down with a notebook and some colored pencils and start doodling or sketching, most kids will gravitate to you and show curiosity and interest. You don't need to have any artistic ability to introduce kids to art. All you need is a willingness to play and try new things.




More resources on creating with kids:

Tinkerlab
Ucreate with Kids

Flying Through the Storm

"The wise man in the storm prays to God,
not for safety from danger,
but deliverance from fear."
{Ralph Waldo Emerson}

Soar Anyway.

Be still, sad heart, and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

{Henry Wadsworth Longfellow}

Want to Fly?

The Story of Live Art.fully

The year I turned 30, between two trials in my life, I adopted a way of looking at the world. It is a perspective, if you will, that is much more than two words can contain. I dubbed it Live Art.fully.

To Live Art.fully, bare bones, is to live fully, using art. But how do you live fully? And what if you're not an artist? Then what?

I spent most of my life convincing myself I was not an artist. I was creative, yes. I was a writer, or at least wanted to be. I doodled, wrote poetry, and scribbled endlessly in spiral bound books. I read voraciously. I loved hearing people's stories and at times, liked to tell my own, especially through the medium of writing. I loved drama & acting. I dabbled in music, learning three musical instruments and singing, but mastering none. I liked taking pictures. Through school, personal, and professional endeavors, I learned elements of design, layout, formatting, writing, editing, and publishing.

But I was not, absolutely not, an artist.

What I have learned is that what I do, all those outlets of creativity, is art. My life is an artful life.

Everyone faces obstacles in their lives, some more than others, and everyone has their own tragedies. I am not exempt from that, and have experienced many things in my life that were painful. You have read about some of them in previous posts.

What I learned, and still learn nearly daily, is that growth is a choice. We can take these hard things and let them help us grow. It's not easy. It's not pain-free. It's very difficult sometimes. But I can use my...

courage

resilience

honesty

positivity

faith

writing & art

...to heal, to grow, to process, to learn, to truly live an artful, authentic life.

If and when I fall, I get up. And so do you.

Journaling Heals: My Art Saves Story on CRESCENDOh

Have you heard of CRESCENDOh? Jenny Doh & her team are doing amazing things. If you're interested in art, creativity, sewing, stamping, mixed media art, knitting, painting, or are just seeking inspiration, you will find it at CRESCENDOh.

Jenny believes ART SAVES. She invites guest curators and readers to share their personal stories of how art saves on the CRESCENDOh blog.



My story is up this week. Click on the following icon to read it, and while you're there, take a look around and be inspired!



A big thank you to Jenny Doh & everyone at Team CRESCENDOh for sharing the message that Art Saves.

Courage Knocking

Pretty much everyone has at least one or two things (if not one or two dozen) that they don't do. "I'm not a runner." "Writing? I'm not good at that." "Oh, I don't mow the lawn, my husband does that." "Special music? Are you kidding? I can't carry a tune!"

I have a whole list of things I don't feel confident, or competent doing. I am one of those who doesn't mow the lawn, doesn't plant flowers, 'can't' run, doesn't feel comfortable with any recipe that uses words like 'saute', and the list goes on...

When we are young, before we've found our proverbial boxes, labeled them, and climbed inside, we dare to try new things. What we haven't yet attempted, we haven't failed. And then we grow up, finding things that come more naturally than others, or things we enjoy more or even excel at. So we tend to stick to those things.

Today I woke up tired, but strangely energetic. I itched to create art -- not just write or doodle or stamp, things I do regularly, but do something truly artistic. Paint. Pastels. Canvases. Hard, scary, messy things to which I normally say "Oh, I don't do that. I'm not an artist."

So after taking my Kindergartener to school, my almost-three-year-old and I went home to create Art.

I used oil pastels for the first time and shoved my inner critic and self-doubt aside to create something worthy of being called art. I had a blast and actually liked what I ended up with.

I also decided to tackle a new recipe for dinner. Pumpkin Lasagna. The pictures looked too good to be true, but the recipe wanted me to melt butter on the stovetop and brown minced garlic and.... I was already overwhelmed with the browning of garlic.

So I again pushed aside that little inner voice that said, "It's okay that you can't cook. You have other talents. You bake! You write! You're nearly ready for the Olympics in laundry." Step by step, I followed the recipe.

I melted butter. I browned garlic. I added incredients and stirred and layered and shredded and layered and spread and layered and topped the whole thing with sliced fresh mozzarella. It's out of the oven now, bubbling and hot and smelling of autumn comfort.

What 'can't' you do? Why not try?

Portability

Journaling is a hobby you can take with you quite easily, even if you use more than a pen and blank book.

What I generally take out-and-about with me fits in a big handbag with plenty of room leftover for wallet, keys, cell phone, etc. etc. plus things my daughters might need like snacks, board books, and extra clothes.

I like to take:

• my journal
• pens (at the bare minimum, one archival-quality black pen, like the Sharpie Pen, or Pigma Micron.
• stickers
• a gluestick
• colored pens or pencils.

TIP: Affix an envelope into the back cover of your journal, and put bits of art or stickers inside, for quick additions to journal entries on the go.

Here's a short video on one art journaler's personal travel tool kit.

Happy journaling and stay tuned...