How to add painting into your daily activities - Mini Matisse

How to add painting into your daily activities

How to add painting into your daily routine with children.

Painting or creating any type of art can seem so foreign to so many if it isn’t something you’ve tried into before it can feel incredibly overwhelming and daunting!

So many people assume you’re either born with it or you’re not, even my friends exclaim to me ‘it’s because you’re arty’, ‘you’re just so creative I couldn’t do that’ but that couldn’t be further from the truth!

The truth is it’s not a rare skill or arty trait that contributes to your ability to paint, art is just natural form of expressing... a 4-month-old or 90-year-old can paint, it’s simply markings with different colours.

To possess the skills needed to ‘be arty’ you most definitely don’t need to have attended some fancy art school you just need to free yourself to the explore your thoughts and imagination. Picasso put it perfectly ‘It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.’

I know if you’re faced with a blank canvas or not sure where to start it can be daunting, so here are just a few suggestions that helped me and my family unlock our inner Matisse’s that you can try at home.

My top tips for adding art to your activities with the kids

1) Make it different; use different materials instead of paintbrushes such as scrub brushes, cardboard, scrapers, earbuds, vegetables... Anything!

2) Limit the number of colours BUT increase the methods to use the colour. Anyone with kids knows that kids seem to just want to make brown paint, the mixing for them is a big learning experiment & experience. Channel this earnest by laying only two or 3 similar colours with some white, they’ll still be able to mix, but instead of brown, you’ll get beautiful shades!

 3) Let it dry and come back to it tomorrow with new colours. My kids are 2 & 4, so I find more than 15mins and my walls are getting a colour update instead of the paper. Know your kids limit and cap it before it runs overtime.

4) Play music, everything’s better with tunes! Naturally, you’ll feel a groove in the music that’ll help you all find a rhythm for painting. Discover listening to different genres and explore how that impacts your masterpiece- try switching from fast pop-py beats to more mellow tunes and see the difference.

5) Get involved.. pick up a paintbrush (or toothbrush!), make it a family affair. 

6) Paint somewhere that can get dirty, it’ll allow you to enjoy it more! I choose the grass if weather permits - Vit D and no worries for paint splatters! My kids go rogue fast, so painting inside is a massive no go for my sanity & decor!

7) Make it accessible, if its an effort to set-up and pack away its already unenjoyable! We have an easel set up on the verandah with a canvas. Next to it on a shelf are the paints and brushes with a cleanup jar ready to go, it’s convenient & easy. We add to it as we feel, friends, me, my husband and kids - when everyone’s involved it creates such a unique masterpiece to hang! Our current one has been going for 3 weeks now. When it’s dry, I spin it, so each side gets painted.

Apart from being fun, there’s actually a myriad of educational and cognitive benefits for learning and brain development... What better reason to pick up a brush today!

I hope this inspires you to paint a little more at home and remember, art is an expression, if I can do it, you most certainly can too!

Have fun creating and don’t forget to share your masterpieces with me!

Katie

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