Backyard Art Camp

When Jane of Buzzmills and Melissa of A Happy Stitch asked me to be a part of their Backyard Art Camp I was thrilled!  Jude and I love a good art project and this seemed like the prefect excuse to create a really fun, large scale piece.  Jude is at that phase where he gets frustrated when he can't draw or paint a literal image of what he has in his mind so I knew just where to turn for inspiration: Jackson Pollock.  

 

We checked out a few books from the library: Pollock, to get an idea of his finished work and Action Jackson, to understand his process.  I highly recommend Action Jackson for the preschool aged child.  It is written like a children's story, but you learn so much about Jackson Pollock and his process (minus the booze mind you), it really got us in the mood to paint.

I purchased a large plastic-backed canvas drop cloth and set it up in the backyard.  I then cracked open an assortment of house paints I had on hand and let the little one go to town.  I had to encourage him to move all over the canvas a few times, but he soon got the hang of it.   

The end result is a beautiful piece of art that we plan to use as a picnic blanket and outdoor table cloth.  Jude of course wanted to picnic right away, wet paint and all.

Be sure to check out all of the other wonderful contributors to this awesome series:

• danielle and andrea from crafting connections
• deborah from my life at playtime
• stephanie from the crafty kitty
• miranda from miranda makes
• dawn suzette from simple things notebook
• stephinie from gypsy forest
• courtney from mon petit lyons
• sanae from sanae ishdia
• jennet from feathered nest studio
• tara from girl like the sea

Hooray for backyard art!