Let those kids get messy!

If there is one thing I learnt from my 20 year career as a teacher, it is that kids need to be allowed to explore their environments freely and without restraint and they need to be encouraged to be independent and be able to think for themselves.

Our society is so different today than when most of us were children.  I remember walking home from school by myself at aged eight!!!!!  I have only just allowed my 8 and 9 year old to play in the front yard by themselves for goodness sake.  In my defence, we do live on a very busy street.

So parenting today has thrown up some very big issues for my husband and myself.  We also have two children with severe food allergies and that makes us even more prone to out of control over protectiveness.

However even with these obstacles, I still have that voice in my head telling me to let them be children and learn independence.  Ahhhhhh!

So how do we enable our children to feel the freedom that we enjoyed as children and keep them safe? There are sooo many ways that we can achieve this for them.

Allow them to dig and play in the garden.  We never had a sandpit but there has always been a designated digging patch in the garden.  Dirt was one thing they were not allergic to and once I stopped freaking out about how much dirt my son was eating it was awesome spying on them whilst they enjoyed their back yard freedom!!!  You must also allow them water!  You cannot have fun in the dirt without water!  Very messy yes, but very important.  There was a lot of showering in the early days!  They still love the digging patch! Letting the hose run at a trickle is a great way to include water and not run up the water bill.

 

Another thing I always did and this is going to make the neat freaks cringe, but I always had a freely accessible arts and craft cupboard.  I made sure it was in a cupboard because it was and is to this day a huge mess.  However it gets used every single day and I am telling you now that you have to include paints in this cupboard.  Last Christmas I woke up and could not find Grace and Joe and they were in the garage making a Santa sleigh. They had the drop sheet down and their painting smocks on and they were having an awesome time!!

I have also always encouraged pretend play and dressing up.  You don't need fancy costumes to dress up that is for sure.  Joe is the king of dressing up and imaginationing as we like to call it.  

Due to a variety of circumstances we have had to create a 70's childhood within the confines of our home and garden and I think like many of you facing the same parenting issues that we are not doing tooo bad a job!

I would love to hear what things you do with your little people to try and recreate a piece of your childhood experiences for them.  

KIDS ART NEWS update!!!!!  We are working on producing our designs on cushion covers!  How exciting is that!!!!  Here is a sneak peak.  Chan is busy testing materials for washability and colour.  And I get to design pretty things to go on them.

We also have a new range of kids quotes coming out soon!  We will keep you posted as they are released.

Mixed media girls!

Hello everyone!  I hope you have all had an awesome week!  We spent the weekend celebrating my hubbards birthday!  Very low key as we are all slowly recovering from a nasty flu virus!  Two full weeks so far!!!  YUCK!

A few weeks ago my mate G and I spent some time in her art studio and I took some long overdue pictures of some of the products I use and the stages I go through when creating mixed media girls.

Mixed media collage is an awesome thing to do with your children!!!  Seriously they are going to love this.

The first thing I do is choose what paper I am going to use.  This can include any type of printed pattern paper you might have.  From tissue paper to wrapping paper to packaging or scrapbooking papers, you can seriously use anything to create a back ground.

You will need Gesso and some type of gel medium such as modpodge to glue your papers onto your canvas. These can be found at cheap stores, craft shops and art stores.  There are also heaps of online stores where you can purchase these products.

Gesso

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acrylic gesso

Gesso (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒɛsːo] "chalk," from the Latin: gypsum, from Greek: γύψος) is a white paint mixture consisting of a bindermixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these.^[1] It is used in artwork as a preparation for any number of substrates such as wood panels, canvas and sculpture as a base for paint and other materials that are applied over it
.

You are going to need a canvas for your work.  You can choose any size you like.  I get mine from cheap stores and they work just fine.

I love using washi tape and I use it on everything!!!  So adding it to my canvas backgrounds is kind of a given.

These little beauties are Faber Castel Gelatos.  They are not necessary at all but they are super awesome to use and I love them!! LOL!  I always add some acrylic paint to my canvases! You can get cheap acrylic paint sets at any cheap store!

Can you see how I am adding colour to my background with my gelatos and acrylic paint.  I use my finger to apply my paints!

I love using stencils to create patterns and texture to my backgrounds.  I particularly love adding some texture by using texture paste and my favourite Tim Holtz stencil!  You can however add texture using simple things you find around the home.  Netting, bubble wrap, sponges!!!!  Seriously anything.

I am addicted to colour sprays and spritzes at the moment.  I always add gold to my creations!!!

I create my girls using paper collage.  I draw them and then cut them out and past them on and then jazz them up with paints and colour!!!! Oh and don't forget texture!  Your kids will love this part and I have always found when working with kids that they are usually very good at this!

I learnt how to make my girls over here at Christy Tomlinsons page!  She is an amazing mixed media artist and the minute I saw her work I was hooked and had to do some of her online classes!!!  

You can find Christy here...

http://christytomlinson.typepad.com/christytomlinson/art/

I also follow another amazing mixed media artist called Limor Webber.  My friend Geordie is really good friends with Limor and I was lucky enough to meet her and hang out with her during her last trip to Oz!! She is one talented and awesome lady!!!  

You can find Limor here!

http://www.limorwebber.com/

And here is my finished girl photographed in the morning sun!  Natural light really makes the colours pop!

And here are two other girls I have done!  I am currently working on a large canvas angel for my dear friend Megs!!!  I cannot wait to finish it and see it hanging in her house! 

Have an awesome week everyone!  

xxxx Suzie xxxx