By now, I’m sure you’ve seen the gorgeous artwork that my kids created with nothing more than stretched canvases, a paint palette,  acrylic paints and painters tape.  Hopefully, you gushed over it like I did.  Just in case you missed it (or failed to gush) here’s another look at the two canvases together…

In order to put these bad boys on display, I had to find the perfect clock to go in between them… I literally searched and searched and searched.  I looked at all the local general merchandise and hardware stores. I even looked for a clock when we visited Kansas City.  Ugh.  I found one that I sort of liked online, but I only sort of liked it, and didn’t want to push the pay button on something I only sort of liked.  KWIM?

Then, the other day, I am out and about, and stopped by Big Lots to see if they have any more bamboo drawer dividers.  I had to steel the ones from my jewelry drawer for the kitchen reorganizing project I am working on (long story).  I’m walking through Big Lots, looking for the bamboo dividers and I see it.

The clock I want.  And it was only $25!

Of the thirty five large wall clocks they had, they only had one 24 inch wall clock like this one.  I really liked it.

I snapped a picture with my phone and sent it to Hubs, asking if he liked it, too.  Then I started to roam the store, waiting for his reply.   When I didn’t receive a reply within a few minutes, as I usually do, I figured he must be at lunch or something.  I didn’t want anyone else to buy it while I waited, so, I went back over, put the clock in my cart, and started roaming some more.  After about twenty minutes, I still hadn’t heard from him.   I asked an associate if I could return the clock if my husband hated it.  She laughed and said yes, I could return it within thirty days with a receipt.  I bought it.

He liked it. It is now on our wall, flanked on either side by a masterpiece.

For the meager investment of $26.18 in art supplies, four afternoons (one for Hubs to paint the canvases black, two for the kids to paint the canvases, and then one to hang everything) and $25 for a clock, we went from a blank wall to this…

In the process, I was able to make some awesome memories with my kids as I taught them about art and had plain good fun.

Priceless.

Eat your heart out, Monet!

If you’ve been following, you know that I set out to have my kids turn a pair of stretched canvases into wall worthy art with nothing more than a paint palette,  acrylic paints and painters tape.  Now that the paint has dried, the time has come to remove the painters tape.  I almost hated to remove the tape, because the canvases are beautiful, even with it in place.

I was afraid I would somehow mess up the canvases while peeling tape, so I set Hubs to the task of removing it (I didn’t want to be the guilty one if the canvases were ruined).  Of course, I knew Hubs would be careful, and there was no chance the canvases would be ruined if he were the one peeling tape.

I was simply amazed when the tape was completely removed from both canvases.  They are GORGEOUS.

Here’s a few close-ups…

You can see, in the photo on the far left, where the saturated tape allowed a small amount of paint to seep through.  No big deal, I think it adds character to the canvas.  Every time I look at them, I am just overwhelmed.

My kids painted those.

They are two and four.

I’m sorry folks, but Van Gogh pales in comparison.

I can’t wait to get the canvases up on the wall.

Things got a bit hectic around here, so it was a bit later before we could start painting the second stretched canvas (you can read my post about the first canvas here).  While we did smaller, less time consuming (and less messy) art projects, in the interim, the kids did NOT let me forget that we had another canvas to paint.  Every day I heard, “Mommy, can we paint the canvas today?”   At one point, Mister shrugged his shoulders and said, “I guess we just aren’t never going to paint it.  Then we can’t never put them on the wall for everyone to see.”

I hated to make them wait, but things were crazy, and well…

Nevertheless, the second canvas painting day arrived, and Mister and Sister were thrilled.  They helped me spread the paper on the table (they even washed the table first).  Once the table was covered, I gave each their paint palette with acrylic paints and set them loose.

Sister was far more adventurous this time around.  Not only did she paint in several spots, she even painted on the painters tape to make it “disappear.”  Oops.  Hope it holds with as much paint as she slathered on there.  I think she is definitely more comfortable with painting now.

Mister, once again, was all elbows in.  He experimented with different sized brushes, to see what effect the size of the brush had on the appearance of the paint.  He also experimented by holding the paintbrush up and watching the paint drip onto the canvas from it.  I showed him how the paint splattered differently if you held it a little higher.  He thought that was cool, and soon enough, I was having to tell him to hold his brush closer to the canvas.  LOL.  He had no problem moving his paint palette around the table when he felt he was finished with one spot and wanted to start another.  It was comical to watch him, because he kept analyzing (he is his father’s son) whether or not a spot needed more paint.  If there was any black showing at all, he determined it had to be painted.

At one point, he reached up and used his brush to drag a line down the center of the canvas.  That pretty much rankled Sister’s countenance, since part of what he dragged was what she had just painted.  He told her that it was making it “consistent.”  Um, okay.  Whatever the case, she must have agreed, because she went back to painting and left it as it were.

Once they were finished, I set the canvas out on the washer to dry.  Now that I have artwork nearly ready to hang, I need a large clock for my wall.

I told you, yesterday, about our decision to let Mister and Sister paint canvases for our living room, because I couldn’t find affordable artwork (see that post here).  Once the paint dried on the canvases, and the painters tape was applied to create a design that we liked, we set them aside until Art Project Day.

I try to do an art project with the kids once a week.  Some weeks there are more, and some weeks it just doesn’t happen, but I do try.  Anyway, when Art Project Day came around, it was time to set the kids loose on one canvas.

I chose to do one stretched canvas at a time because A) my kids are two and four, B) I had a headache, C) my kids are two and four, D) the wet canvas has to be stored on top of our washer until it dries, and E) my kids are two and four.

Did I mention that my kids are two and four.

At least, until next month.  Anyway.

Once they got over the fact that I was only going to allow them to paint one canvas, they set to work on it…

I gave them each a paint palette and added the acrylic paints they picked.

It was interesting to watch them paint together.  They were both very intentional about what they were doing, and yet, so different in their approach.  Mister would apply a dab of paint in one spot, then a stroke of paint in another.  Sister would look at his, give her approval, and add another broad stroke where she was at.   I had to turn the canvas periodically, because while Mister would paint wherever, Sister kept painting the same spot… over… and… over… and… over.   So, I just gave her a new spot.  LOL.

At first, I thought she was painting in one spot because that was all she could reach.  I told her she could move her chair, or go to the other side of the table, but she didn’t want to.  When I asked her why she kept painting the same spot, she said, “eecuz I making it purrrfect.”  I noticed she didn’t like it when the paint got on her skin.   Mister didn’t care, and was all elbows in, if YKWIM.

They both enjoyed combining colors, and painting over one color with another.  Mister liked dragging his brush through several colors to see what happened.  After about thirty minutes (and three paint refills), though, they both announced that they were done painting.  So, it was off to the tub for them, and off to the laundry room for the canvas, so we could wait for the paint to dry.

I was eager for the paint to dry, so we could start the second canvas on our next Art Project Day.