fingerpainting the moon: happy holidays!

This year seems to have been my year of collaborations with some really wonderful artists- Jen Worden, Seth Apter and Hanne Matthiesen. And hopefully next year will bring another one with Roxanne Evans Stout which I am really looking forward to.

But I don’t often write about the collaborations that happen every week right at home with my children. My son is 4, almost 5 in a few weeks. And my daughter is 22 months. We are always making things, whether it’s in my studio or in the kitchen. I make Stuff, so it’s only natural that I share this with my kids.

{Noah when he was 2 working on a large acrylic painting that we gave my husband for his birthday that year. It hangs in our dining room and it is the first thing people see when they come through our front door.}

After college I worked in speech and language therapy in the school system here in Chicago and I worked with ages 3 to 14. My favorite way to incorporate therapy goals was through creative projects. It wasn’t something that I could do often, but what I learned was that everything you do with children is a learning opportunity for them. I’m not saying it’s easy. Nope, not at all. I’m not saying it’s not messy, nope, not even close to that. Not saying that it’s smooth sailing. Nope, sometimes it’s a disaster! But the point for me is to involve my children in projects that we can all do together, to give them a sense of creative identity, to be proud of what their hands and minds can create.

I thought it would be fun to occasionally share our creative projects on my blog in a series called “Fingerpainting the Moon”. My goal too is to show how projects with little kids don’t have to be all about googly eyes and cotton balls. Those projects are fun, yes. But if we challenge our kids to be creative and expressive and to enjoy the process, rather than have a finished product that looks like everyone else’s, then it encourages them to think outside the norms.

Those of you who visit my blog for the art, don’t worry, this is not going to turn into a craftsy-mom blog. This is just an occasional thing. But I do hope to inspire other creative parents who want to do things with their children, but are intimidated by the whole messy ordeal. Once I changed my perspective on keeping my art world and my childrearing world separate and began bringing my son into my creative process, it transformed my world….and his too. My daughter made her first mark on paper around 1 and her face just lit up with excitement and pride because for so long she had watched not just me drawing all the time, but also her brother. I’ll never forget that moment.

The finished card on our mantle

This project we did together was for our family Christmas card. This is less of an expressive type of project than what I just wrote about, but it was important for me to have them contribute to the card we send out to our family and close friends.

First I took photos of them and designed the layout in photoshop and printed our card out on cardstock. And then I had Noah help me put the cards through my sewing machine. This year has also seen a lot of stitching show up in my artwork, so it’s only natural that I included it in our card design. The snowflake design is just a button on the machine. Easy!

Rule #1: He presses the pedal, but Mommy is in charge.

After that he wrote “HoHoHo” on the back of the card. I am so proud of my little guy with his emerging writing and reading skills. And he is too. By having him contribute in this way, it reinforces letter-writing and that I value his emerging skills.

I wanted Grace to help out too so I had her make red dots on the back of the envelope and draw whatever she wanted.

Anyone who has even spent 5 minutes with a 1 year old knows they don’t have much of an attention span. And that you can’t force a 1 year old to do anything they don’t want to do. So we had to do this in spurts. And while she was drawing them, I would take the finished envelope and lick it to seal. Apparently Grace saw me do it and started grabbing all the envelopes and licking them all over! At first I was like, um what in the world is wrong with my child?! Then I realized that she saw me do it and thought that was a totally appropriate behavior. Anyway, the last batch of holiday cards were naked on the back as I had to end the project right then and there. Oh well!

And yes, I am well aware that this creation of ours will most likely end up in the trash after everyone’s holiday decorations come down. But as it is with my paintings, it’s not always about the finished product. It is about the process, the time we spent together making these cards.

If I don’t get back to blogland before Christmas, just want to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday! Whether you celebrate Hannukah, Kwanzaa, or Christmas wishing you all a peaceful and joyful week. Festivus for the rest of us! (Yes, we are Seinfeld fans in our house.)