Saturday, July 26, 2008

Virtual Sketch Date


Here is my attempt for the Virtual Sketch Date. I rushed it at the end in order to get it finished today while the babies were asleep and then decided to crop and cropped too much so I'm not that happy with it. It is coloured pencil on pastelboard (which really does eat coloured pencils).
I do like coloured pencils though and it is a medium that I can use when the babies are up. My son loves my coloured pencils too and was having great fun with my artist quality ones yesterday. So I went to the bookshop and got some kids colour pencils but he still prefers mine. We also now have coloured pencil drawings on 4 doors at the moment that replace the crayon drawings that were cleaned off the other day. He is very happy to help clean his artworks from the doors, I just need to keep on re-iterating "only on the paper". Any hints from anyone that has gone through this before? I know that as a small child I covered a whole wall with my artwork when we were visiting my father's cousin and apparently it was a brand new painted wall too. So perhaps genetics tell....

18 comments:

Leslie Hawes said...

A true artist makes art on any available surface.
That's adorable, Mom!
Attach some paper to the wall.
Or, chalkboard paint on the door :)

I really am glad you could squeeze in a sketch. Lovely and vibrant.

"JeanneG" said...

Nice job. Wonderful bold bright colors. Cute story too.

Jeanette Jobson said...

Very graphic! And what great colours. Its truly is vibrant and summery.

Miki Willa said...

I love your bright colors. I don't seem to be able to achieve that using colored pencils. What is your secret?

Grangry said...

Love those rich colours! I give the grandchildren Crayola washable crayons when they visit, just in case! But I also give each of them their own sketch pad with their name on the front - that seems to help.

Paulette said...

Hi Melissa,
Love the bright colours!
Maybe a wall of his own to draw on?

Rose Welty said...

Love the cast shadows on this! Nicely done.

Jennifer Rose said...

Nice bright striking colours. Nice job on the lighting and the shadows :)
Paper on the walls, but than it might be harder to teach them not to draw on the walls when the are at other people's houses lol Maybe one of those easels that are for kids? They are small enough to move around but the paper is big enough the kids have lots of space to draw on?

Sydney Harper said...

I like the bright colors. I can never get colors that deep with colored pencil.

Maybe he needs a very large pad or a roll of paper. The easel idea sounds good.

MaryAnn Cleary said...

Nice job! I love the colors and vibrancy of the work as well as how you handled the composition.

Stacy said...

Melissa, I love the bold colors in your piece and think the crop works well. As for kids coloring on walls, I second the advice to give them washable products to use as well as their own large tablet.

cathyswatercolors said...

Nice,bright and colorful

Lilly said...

I can't blame him for wanting to express his creativity in a large way. Maybe you could take him to see some large murals, then give him one wall in his room to create a mural. It could be wonderful to see what he creates.

If you do, I recommend painting the wall with a satin finish paint first. And the tip for the day is "toothpaste." Nothing cleans wax based pigment off of a painted wall better.

As others have said, your use of color in this months project is stunning. I enjoyed it very much.

Melissa Muirhead said...

Thanks for your kind comments everyone and for the suggestions. I do have an easel for my son so I might leave that out all the time with a selection of paper on it so he has plenty of drawing room. And thanks for the toothpaste tip Michael - we only built our house 2years ago and did use really good quality paint at the time in anticipation of toddlerdom, so it does come off with some scrubbing. And my son is very helpful with helping wipe it off, that seems to be just as much fun as the drawing on!

laura said...

The intensity of the colors is amazing--you really make the most of these complements!

Kylie said...

I see Michael beat me to the toothpaste tip. :) It really does work wonders. We managed to get crayon off of cabinets that were freshly painted with flat white latex with it!

Like everyone else, I love your bright colors!

Dougie said...

Excellent work, Melissa. I particularly like the strong colors! I also like the illustrative feel of it.

Quilt knit said...

This is a great close up! I love the bright colors you chose.

Sherrie Roberts