The Artist's Studio

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shhhhhh, Zee Arteest is at work

shhhhhh, Zee Arteest is at work

Teddy is ALL BOY  He likes trucks and cars, he runs at breakneck speed through the day, he climbs up and jumps off furniture.  One of our closest friends calls him T-Dog and T-$.  But sometimes even the craziest of kiddos need to chill.

When Teddy seems like he needs a chill activity, we head down to the basement bathroom and set up his artist's studio to paint.

Initially, I tried giving Teddy the paper and some paint and letting him have it.  Rookie mistake.  The paint started on the paper, but made it onto the bathtub (not a big deal it washes off just fine) but then the paper made it onto his head and got thrown out of the tub.  

Since then, I have commandeered a deep 9x13 metal pan from the kitchen to hold the paper and paint and so far it works! The paper remains in the pan (for the most part), the paint is 75% contained in the pan and then some in the tub, but that is easy to clean, much easier than the floors, and my hair.

So here are our steps to creating an artists studio that is easy to clean up!

THINGS YOU WILL NEED

  1. A creative child
  2. A bathtub
  3. Thick paper art paper.  We use watercolor paper.
  4. Washable kids paint.  We have been using Crayola Washable Kids Paints and the colors are nice and vibrant.  
  5. A metal 9x13 pan
  6. Kids friendly paint brushes. We use these by Melissa and Doug but These for even younger children are great.

WATCHING THE ARTIST AT WORK

  1. Take your tiny terror into the bath tub and strip them down.  Naked painting really allows for some awesome creativity or so I hear.
  2. Place the pan and paint brushes in the tub
  3. Tear/cut the paper in half and place the paper in the pan
  4. Choose your colors (or let zee arteest choose) and put a couple drops around the paper and let them at it. If you want to pick colors that complement each other, here's a helpful chart.
  5. Have extra paper at hand to switch out quickly and a place to set the finished pieces to dry. In our studio, this means no one can use the bathroom since for a couple hours.
  6. When your little Picaso or Matisse is done, if you have a tidy artist you can just quickly take a lysol wipe to any big spots on the tub.  If your artist still manages to get a little here and here, or all over themselves, just fill the tub and bubble bath it all away!
A sampling of some original artwork.  it was a busy day in the studio.

A sampling of some original artwork.  it was a busy day in the studio.

Sometimes I pump in some tunes for him to jam out to while he paints.  Teddy paints best to Dave Matthews, Phish, James Taylor, and Chris Stapleton.  Yes,  you read that right.  

I hope you and your littles have as much fun with this as Teddy and I do!

Now if you have an idea for what to do with the 83,426 AMAZING pieces of art I have, that would be great.  Wallpaper, maybe?