Creativity in everyday life — Artist Moms Are the Scariest Moms
Artist moms are generally more permissive than most moms. Making a mess is not such a big deal. Children have access to art supplies. They paint. They make things with food items. They make noodle necklaces or marshmallow people then are allowed to eat them even their fingers are dirty. They are allowed to pour red and yellow Cool Aid together so that they not only find out that red and yellow make orange but they can drink the result too.
Being an artist, I had access to all kinds of supplies that they could play with. These supplies were not allowed in their homes usually. I allowed them to glue and paint. When my children were little, my children’s friends loved coming over to our house. Their moms often viewed what I did with the children with horror. We had field trips to the creek to find plants or sticks that we glued onto paper. We hunted in the garden for gluing material too. I set up a table outside where they could paint papers to their hearts content. The whole deck was full of colors after. In the evening I just washed off the deck with the hose and all the evidence of mess was gone.
My 6 year old niece came to visit and while she was drawing, she tore her paper. I looked for scotch tape but only found my special scotch tape with the pink hearts on it. She patched up her paper and admired the hearts. While I went back to cooking, she kept drawing. She picked up the tape with the hearts again and started to patch a second tear. Then she cut off one little heart, added to a different spot on her paper. Tore off a second heart and found another spot for it. She kept doing this until most of her paper was covered some 45 minutes later. When the last heart was on her paper, she stood up and said; ‘Look what I made’! Her mom looked with horror at the empty tape container. Not a big deal for me because I had noticed what was going on and decided to let it go because she was being so good but it was to her mom. Scotch tape limited in that house apparently.
I would buy big rolls of paper and attach long strips of paper to the fence. The kids would fill the paper with hand prints, brush marks or designs of their choice. They could paint for well over an hour on these lengths of paper with my tempera paint. Then we would draw names as to who took it home at the end of the babysitting session. Paint would drip on the clothes and some moms were horrified by this. I always used water based paint so everything was washable. I also warned the moms ahead of time so If they came with ‘good’ outfits, they had been warned.
There are tips for moms that want to wander to the artistic side. Use water based paint. Use water based markers. Work outside as much as possible. Use nature as a source of materials because this gets them looking at nature. Buy inexpensive materials because they will use a lot of product. Use the discount stores for supplies or the re-use centre. Let them play with as little guidance as possible. Just make sure that they are safe when they are doing their artwork. No sharp blades or cutting instruments.
Art is related to science. There is a lot of ‘let’s see what will happen when….’ activities. This is a safe way to experiment and practice fine motor skills too.
Now my children are grown up but when their friends come over, they talk of the fun they had doing these artistic activities. A memory was created and hopefully when they have their own children, they will allow them to have fun with art supplies
The best advice that I can give is that you should find your ‘niche’. Find a spot you excel at and become an expert. Become the ‘go-to person’ in your area. No matter, if you love art, you will drawn to it and keep going back to it whenever you can. You will be drawn to artistic endeavours over and over again until you get the hint and make it your career. This is a prediction….
I hope this helps you .
Doris’ website: www.dorischarest.ca
I have creativity courses and art courses online at: https://www.udemy.com/user/dorischarest/
For more information on mixed media by Doris Charest:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCltBfqSMAK0OOWeXaKGud6Q?view_as=subscriber
https://www.facebook.com/dorischarest
https://www.pinterest.ca/dalinec/
https://www.instagram.com/dorischarest/
https://www.udemy.com/user/edit-profile/
https://www.skillshare.com/user/dorischarest
All photography and artwork by Doris Charest
Thanks for reading, and please do recommend, like, share, comment, etc. Thanks.
Till next time …