The Art and Craft Story
A little over two months ago Kimi did not have any art materials. I initially thought that it would be hard to maintain a home that has paints, crayons and markers.
My mind was already playing scenarios that were not serving me! The vision of walls being drawn, carpets being spilled on with paints, play dough getting munched on etc. The horror! I was very fixated on the possible mess that having these materials will create that I did not see the fun and joy that Kimi is missing from doing art.
One morning, I just decided to drop the worries I had and got him a play dough set.
Yes, messes were made, play dough crumbs were tried to be eaten and the colour of the dough transferred to the carpet a bit but it was not that bad, not as bad as I expected it to be. I just consistently told Kimi what he needs to do so that he knows what is acceptable or not and so that both of us would be happy in the process. I also bought a splat mat for the next session.
The second time we played with his play dough set, it was better. And the more we played with it the experience got funner, nicer and calmer.
With this, I decided to buy him more art materials. I settled on a simple watercolour set, brushes and a drawing paper roll from Ikea. I also bought a set of paint sticks. I was so excited to show them to him.
That night when I got home I showed him immediately the materials, he was so excited to see the wonderful colours. After we had our dinner, we immediately tried the paint sticks. The colours were magnificent, they looked so silky and so smooth!
The next day we opened the watercolour set I bought for him. I do not know much about watercolour but I just started to teach him what I know. We needed some water so I showed him how to fill the plastic cups with water. We needed paper to paint on so I showed him that we need to cut a sheet of paper from the drawing roll. I remembered I had a masking tape somewhere in the house so I scrambled to find it as well. We laid down the splat mat, taped the paper on the mat and then asked Kimi to pick a brush. He picked up all the brushes at once so I had to repeat once more what I said. He was still holding all of them so I told him that I will get the brushes from him. He gave them to me, I picked two to serve as choices and asked him again to pick one. He picked one for himself while saying “Bebe” and he pointed to the brush that I was holding. He said “Nanay” which means mother in Tagalog. It was for me!
I showed him how to carefully dip the brush in the cup of water, tap the excess water on the rim of the cup and cover the tip of the brush with enough paint. He followed suit, copying whatever movements I was doing. I asked him to continue by himself but he wanted both of us to do it so I sat back and paint along with him.
Almost everyday after that, Kimi is painting. If not learning about the flags, I would see him drawing and painting away. Sometimes it would just be for a couple of minutes, most of the time it would be way longer than that.
As the day progressed his fondness for it grew. Most of the time he would already prepare everything: take out the paint sticks from the box where we store the art materials, get the drawing paper roll, get the watercolour palette, brushes, spray bottle, masking tapes and lay down the splat mat. If there is water in his drink dispenser he would already do the extra step of filling the cups with water. After everything is done and in its place, he would then ask me to cut some paper and tape the paper on the mat.
Lyra ferby, Stockmar crayons, IKEA Mala watercolour, Little Brian paint sticks
Doing art is therapeutic but I now also appreciate the preparation and clean-up. I also see Kimi enjoying the process. I love seeing how he is developing, integrating steps that he knows, experimenting with strokes, colours and different brushes. It is such a joy to just observe him during moments like this.
After he is finished with his drawing or painting, he would exclaim “Done!”. I can hear the excitement from his voice and see the excitement from his movement as he walks to the small hallway that connects our bedrooms, turns on the light in the hallway anticipating the process of adding his creation to the designated artwork display.
After the watercolour, the Stockmar wax crayons came and after the crayons, the Lyra Ferby coloured pencils followed. We also bought a ream of A4 sized cartridge paper for drawing, a set of pastel-coloured masking tapes to act as frames for his paintings plastered on our white walls, a spray bottle and a scissor for future craft works.
Our art and craft materials are now growing, his artwork folder getting thicker and I know that this is not the end of it. I wanted to turn the balcony to an art studio. Maybe we will put up an easel or maybe a Raskog trolley filled with pots of paint, new brushes and jumbo droppers. Maybe we will just buy another splat mat for the outdoors and move the art materials in the balcony whenever the weather is nice outside. There are no definite plans yet. But until then, we are more than happy to stay and do art indoors.
