Kieran loves painting and drawing. He went through a period where every time he saw a writing implement he would come to me with it and say "Mummy draw", and I would have to find him some paper to work with. We have many many of his works of art stashed in various places.
Although I also love it when he plays with paint, the messy factor has kept me from doing it too often, but this summer I was determined to let him do some more painting. With the hot sunny days, setting him up on the table outside was the perfect solution.
I thought I was doing pretty good in terms of letting him create as he pleases. I know that at his age it's more about process then product, but I would still find myself giving him instructions, such as trying to get him to use more than one colour, or even to spread the paint out over more than just a tiny area.
And then I came across this video
I watched in amazement and had an aha moment for Kieran.
The very next day I set him up with paints again, (Me: Would you like to do some painting today? Him: YES!), provided him with some of my precious acrylics and mixed media tools and just sat back and watched him.
He brushed paint all over, he squeezed paint out of tubes, he rubbed his fingers in it all over the canvas, he asked for water and mixed that in, he banged different tools covered in paint on top of what was already there.And he was fully engrossed for over 20 minutes.
I tried not to cringe as I saw everything becoming a muddy brown. I just zipped my lip and said nothing. And when he was done we had this
Don't get me wrong. I have no illusions about him being a child prodigy artist. But that was a real teachable moment for this mama. When it comes to art "Just let it be". I think we should all try this sometimes, don't you?
P.S. Check out my post from yesterday with a layout using some of these photos.
P.P.S. Since writing this post I came across this great article about open-ended art projects for kids. Make sure to check it out!
