I follow a lot of art and education blogs and browse Pinterest from time-to-time, searching for various activities that I think we'll enjoy doing at home with Jonah. Recently, I came across a couple of ideas that focused on resist painting and thought it could be a fun, educational, and seasonal activity we could engage in with him.
The essence is that we used painter's tape as a resist on paper and canvases. Jonah doesn't yet have the dexterity to do this on his own, but we quickly ripped and placed the tape for him and he went at it with his paintbrush (and hands). The first weekend, we made snowflake scenes on art paper; the second weekend, we made Valentine-themed messages on canvas. I'm not sure whether it was the additional experience, the novelty of the canvas, or the slightly smaller size of the canvases, but he was much more enthusiastic about it the second weekend. We actually had to tape off a few more canvases while he was working to satisfy his creative binge (note to self: time to stock up on more multi-packs of canvases at Michael's).
Sticking out my tongue always helps!
The project was a great opportunity to work on a number of skills and introduce some new concepts, including use of a paint brush, color mixing, negative space, resists, different media (canvas versus paper), pulling tape off of canvas, and the concept of Valentine's Day.
Jonah's idea of color mixing right now is quite interesting: he pretty much just pushes all of the paint around until it becomes mostly the same color. When we encouraged him to use a particular color and mix it on the canvas, he would go around and get a dot of each of the colors from his palettes (paper plates), such that he was never really adding just one color to his canvas. The results are great, but the process is not at all like how we as adults might have gone about it. I know it's important to remember that!
Intent on his painting, with that tongue still out.
Additionally, he has really started to use the brush quite well, moving it around on the paper and canvas in broad strokes. However, during each session, he eventually found his hands to be the most compelling canvas, painting the left one thoroughly (and well up his forearm as well). When we painted canvases, he also actively used his hands as a brush at points to distribute the paint.
What will this look like when I get the tape ripped off?
When it came time to pull the tape (resist) off of the paper and canvas, we found that we couldn't really let him help with the paper artworks, as the paper ripped away a bit. However, he was able to help remove tape from the canvases (for as long as it kept his interest), and it was fun to watch his reaction as he saw the clean, white canvas beneath.
The snowflake works are now hanging in the playroom where we can see them every day. For Valentine's Day, Jonah selected an artwork to send to each of his grandparents; Ben and I got to keep three of them and I know we will treasure them!
The finished works of art!
Early stages of covering the paper, with tape still visible.
Painting his hands instead of the paper. Caught in action.
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