Collaborative Art

One of my favorite projects (or "projecks" as the kids say) to do with my three sons is to paint. I cover the big table with an old tablecloth, put on some music, and we all get into the painting zone.


This used to be the kind of thing that Luke, Jaz, and I would only do while Zeb was napping, but since he's no longer napping, we decided to try and include him and see if we could still get anything done. And he actually does really well, for the most part. He just loves to be included, and so being included brings out the best in him. But I do find that I have to kind of hold myself back from zoning out too much when Zeb's painting because it can very quickly go from this:


To this:


Along with us each just working on our own paintings, in the past few months we've started doing something that I call "collaborative art." The kids draw pictures on stretched canvas (using a black permanent marker or a black washable marker, depending on if they are 5 years old or 2 years old), and then I get to paint the canvases, with color instruction from the kids. This is really satisfying for all of us since none of the kids are yet able to paint details very clearly or stay within the lines (and thus they sometimes get frustrated when they are unable to complete their visions), and it's fun for me because I get to paint kind of mindlessly (which is really the only way I can paint when I have Zeb painting alongside me). Of course, the vast majority of their artwork is completed entirely by them without my support, but we've all really enjoyed our few works of collaborative art.

For one collaborative project, I gave each kid an 8" x 10" canvas and instructed them to draw some kind of food (to be hung on the wall behind their pretend kitchen). Jaz drew watermelon, Luke drew carrots, and Zeben drew apples.


And then I added the color.

Jaz calls this "The Flying Watermelon."

Zeb told me what colors to use and watched intently while I covered his canvas with paint.

Lena and I call this "the Amputated Arm" painting, and it
makes me smile every time I look at it. According to Luke, one carrot seed was
planted upside down, hence the carrot that grew pointy-side-up.

I love the way all three paintings look hanging together in the play kitchen corner (I did the lower-hanging tomato painting all by myself back when Zeb was still taking naps). Yum!

There are a couple of larger scenes that Luke and Jaz drew on canvas months ago, and that I'm still slowly painting in bit by bit. I think it will be fun to have several of our pieces of collaborative art hanging around the house someday.