art day.

One of my goals for the year is to create art with Jacob. He loves to draw and enjoys painting on the rare occasions he does it, and I think it's important to encourage that in him. And because I know how much time I've wasted getting caught up in perfectionism, it's also important to me to encourage him that it doesn't have to be perfect.

My plans for this past weekend changed at the last minute, and since Jacob was free, I picked him for an art day at Aunt Kristy's house. We worked on a couple of different projects - this was Jacob's abstract art. He says he likes abstract art because it doesn't have to look good.

He started out using a brush, but soon decided finger painting was more fun (I agree). And if it was fun with fingers, why not with your whole hand? We also talked about using his elbow, but he decided it would be kind of difficult to wash the paint off his elbow.

(please ignore the paint samples on the walls in the background - I'm not using any of them)

Originally, I wanted to try adding letter stickers to a canvas, then painting over it, then removing the stickers to see the word in the negative image. But, I couldn't find the stickers - so stenciling was the next best option. Jake chose the word LOVE.

Notice the YouTube playlist in the background and the remains of a Chick-Fil-A milkshake on the table. These were very important.

I wish I had a picture of the finished project. I tried arguing that I should keep it, because I bought the supplies, and because I wanted his first piece of abstract art to hang in my house. He insisted that he wanted to hang it in his room, but he promised me that one day when he is famous (for anything), he would give it back. Then he said that if he was famous for something that paid a lot of money, he would buy me a glass case for it.