Conor's Artwork

 This afternoon, when I picked up Conor from daycare, one of his teachers quickly came up to me and told me that Conor was a bit more colorful than normal... and that they tried to stop him as soon as they saw what was happening and washed it off as much as possible. Apparently, Conor decided to apply his own makeup during art time.

 

Isn't he PRETTY???

 

(Side note: Since taking these photos, I've washed Conor's face a few times.... and he's sporting a blue hue. This might take awhile...)

 

"CHEEEEESE!!!"

Closed eyes, to fully show Conor's artistic blue phase
 

 

It's not a crime scene ... it's just Whidbey

I just realized I never posted the rest of the pictures I took during our weekend on Whidbey a few weeks ago. My apologies for the delay, but just think how much more exciting these will be after waiting with such antici ..............pation!

On Sunday afternoon, the kids were getting a bit ... how shall we say ... energetic, so we ushered them outside to burn off some energy. Bestemor (aka Eric's mom) pulled out a container of sidewalk chalk so the kids could let their creativity spring forth.

I love little kid handwriting!

The kids asked me to draw their outlines, which I happily did.
At the end of the art session, the driveway looked quite a bit like a crime scene
with lots of chalk body outlines.

Fortunately, the chipper clothes that Annika drew on the bodies
made it a much more pleasant crime scene.

Annika putting the finishing touches on her artwork

Annika and Conor busy at work.

Annika "sneaking" up on Buster so she
could get his toy and throw it for him again

While the kids played, Eric and his dad (aka Bestefar)
did some projects around the house.

They even needed a ladder and scaffolding

Manly work, I tell ya!

Of course, the kids decided they needed to "help"

Conor trying to strong arm the wheelbarrow

Painting Christmas Tree Ornaments

A few weeks ago, I saw a catalog that advertised glass tree ornaments and glass paints; it took me all of about 2 seconds to decide that would be a fun project for our little crew. Yesterday seemed like the perfect day to embark on our art project, so I covered the kitchen table with newspaper and we got right to work.

The kids had a BLAST painting their ornaments. I figured they'd do one ornament each.... nope! Each wanted to do as many as possible, which wound up being 3 each because we got a package of 6 ornaments.  They learned how to mix paint colors and employ a variety of techniques as they painted their masterpieces.

Conor exploring his medium

Eric and Annika working on her ornament

Eric teaching Annika how to spin the ornament to make lines of paint

Conor

Conor decided to make himself a piece of living art

"Yoot Mama!"

Silly!

One of Conor's ornaments

One of Annika's ornaments

Marble Painting

I heard about an art project awhile ago that I kept meaning to do with the kids. Basically, you put paper in a baking sheet, dribble in some paint, plop in a few marbles, and let the kids swirl the pans around to make neat designs. This project remained on my "to try" list because we didn't have marbles; last week, I was at a toy shop and amazingly remembered to get a bag of marbles.

I stripped down the kids and loaded up their pans with the art supplies. The kids had a blast. Of course, as soon as the marbles went flying, the hands went into the paint and it transformed from a marble painting project to a finger painting project. (I thought ahead to strip down the kids, but didn't think far enough ahead to lay newspaper on the floor... whoops)



Marbles? What marbles? We've got hands!

Look, Ma!



Annika diving in!

Conor discovered there's a cause and effect when one claps with paint on one's hands

Clap = paint on face! Triple the fun of flinging marbles around in a pan!

Why stop with painting the paper? Tummies are a great canvas!

Pretty hands!



  

Annika's tribal tummy art

Annika tagged Conor as hers

Pretty girl

Two of the marble art master pieces

After the art session, the kids went straight into the bath. Let's just say, that was some sludge-like bath water once the kids were done with it. In fact, I had to empty and re-fill the bath after the initial scrubbing because of all of the paint globs floating around in the water. Next stop: cleaning the kitchen floor!!