Building Blocks
Sun, January 17, 2010 at 06:00AM 
"building blocks" 5x8" watercolor moleskine journal, pitt pens, joint project w/ my 10 yr old daughter, note this is shown horizontally but the original art is vertical w/title at bottom
I drew the beginning structure of this mandala (the outline) and just didn't care for it. It's odd, because usually I see it as a challenge to rehabilitate the poor darling. Maybe the table moved (I often work at the breakfast table and the kids shake the table while drawing). Or my mood was yukky.
So the new thing is for my older daughter (10) to offer to fix the mandala - she likes the challenge of transformation. So she stepped away from her report on dragons to work on the mandala. She added more structure in black gellyroll and colored with brush nib pitt pens. When she handed me the finished page... wow! I love how she broke it up into sections and the way she selected contrasting colors for each section. And the words as part of the art! I just love it. So colorful, fun and balanced. I also like the way she added her signature ribbons to the mandala. It's wonderful to learn from your kids and see their style evolve.
Reader Comments (6)
Tammy, Does your daughter have some spare time to fix a few of my hopeless pieces???
Wonderful work she did! Go, girl, Go!!
What a joy it must be to have such creative daughter! *smiling big*
I worked with kids and mandala too and had great success. It motivates their creativity.
*Eden, my daughter said that she would be happy to take on your "hopeless" art! I think the secret is coming at a piece of art from a fresh perspective, a different frame of reference.
*Hanna, it is difficult to describe how cool it is to do art together with my kids and to see their styles evolve. I hope that they always create.
*Artist, my kids have enjoyed doing mandalas, I think they like the challenge of the constraints. PS. your art is unique and lovely, what is the medium?
~ Tammy
WOW! She's amazing :)
*trish, thanks for visiting!