I don't know why I didn't think of this before- he can eat, draw, play with his cars, and sleep in the high chair while I paint. I was spending so much time in the cafe downstairs from my studio while Phin ate and now I can stretch canvas and the like while he eats in my studio. Fantastic!
I also painted my studio floor and did some general cleaning to better accommodate the toddler in my studio rather than a baby. The pack n' play just isn't cutting it for him anymore- he needs to roam. OK, so the work. I stretched a canvas today and realized that I used stretcher bars that I had just taken a painting off of because it was warped. My lord I am an idiot. Phin was asleep, so I decided to work on what I had around. I had quite a few things I had done as demos for my Intuitive Painting class, so I put them all together. I'm going to have to get a piece of wood to adhere it all to and work on it some more. It's 3 pieces of cardboard, a plastic ping-pong paddle, a cd case, and a shirt sleeve. I used to be really snobby about acrylic paint, but I love it now. It holds everything together plus I can put wax, salt, and sand in it for texture.
I am really enjoying the collage because I really, really don't know where I am going with it and have a level of (productive and healthy) fear and confusion about it that I haven't had in a while. We're getting ready for a parent workshop at work next weekend addressing nurturing creativity in children (it's free for those of you in Chicago- pre-register here by calling). I've done a lot of thinking about how easily children assimilate multiple mediums into one piece of art. I guess I'm trying to knock down some learned barriers and just make art out of anything. Here is the piece so far:
Be well and I promise the next post will be soon :)
-melanie
