Sort of Getting Along
Okay, so we're in full-blown art mode around our home. 
I think there were 5 paintings strewn on our kitchen and dining room floors from yesterday afternoon through the present. 
I took this easy idea from Meg's blog. You just do sharpie markers for the outline of the picture and then paint with water colours. Easy enough. {You should definitely go check her blog out here. You'll quickly become addicted. I check her blog every.single.day.and.numerous.times.per.day.just.in.case.she.might.put.up.another.post. Seriously. My favorite.}
And here's a side benefit of art. The kids sort of get along. I use the term "get-along" rather loosely; maybe cutting the arguments in 1/2, which I'll take by 5pm on any given day.
And Jackson LOVES art. I mean, really loves it.
He's asked to paint every day since then, and even as I blog right now, I'm wondering if he and Jack are sitting at the kitchen table painting together. 
Jack's such a crafts guy and all. {Deanna, that comment was specifically for you!}
Somehow, I ended up with two kids that are way high on the perfectionist scale {I mean WAY high and I'm blaming the Clark genes on this one} and so there tends to be a LOT of drama when the marker slips or colors are wrong or water spills, but we used it today as a little lesson.
Maddie went out of the lines. Mercy me. End of world. {I jest.}
And so I challenged her to make something beautiful with the mistake. And just like most of us, she rose to the challenge.
And so today, Maddie made a masterpiece, showing her true creativity, by simply taking the mistake and 'playing with it' ... changing her vision from her initial work of art to something new by incorporating the mistake ...
And the fun thing is, that she loved how the mistake turned out so she's been working on the doodling part of her creativity since then, creating more whimsical paintings ... I love that. True creativity shining through. 
Don't you just love how he's holding the paint brush?
I think there were 5 paintings strewn on our kitchen and dining room floors from yesterday afternoon through the present. I took this easy idea from Meg's blog. You just do sharpie markers for the outline of the picture and then paint with water colours. Easy enough. {You should definitely go check her blog out here. You'll quickly become addicted. I check her blog every.single.day.and.numerous.times.per.day.just.in.case.she.might.put.up.another.post. Seriously. My favorite.}And here's a side benefit of art. The kids sort of get along. I use the term "get-along" rather loosely; maybe cutting the arguments in 1/2, which I'll take by 5pm on any given day.
And Jackson LOVES art. I mean, really loves it.
He's asked to paint every day since then, and even as I blog right now, I'm wondering if he and Jack are sitting at the kitchen table painting together. Jack's such a crafts guy and all. {Deanna, that comment was specifically for you!} Somehow, I ended up with two kids that are way high on the perfectionist scale {I mean WAY high and I'm blaming the Clark genes on this one} and so there tends to be a LOT of drama when the marker slips or colors are wrong or water spills, but we used it today as a little lesson.Maddie went out of the lines. Mercy me. End of world. {I jest.}
And so I challenged her to make something beautiful with the mistake. And just like most of us, she rose to the challenge.And so today, Maddie made a masterpiece, showing her true creativity, by simply taking the mistake and 'playing with it' ... changing her vision from her initial work of art to something new by incorporating the mistake ...
And the fun thing is, that she loved how the mistake turned out so she's been working on the doodling part of her creativity since then, creating more whimsical paintings ... I love that. True creativity shining through. Don't you just love how he's holding the paint brush?