SF MOMA

Now that we are living much closer to San Francisco, I've been trying to get Munch into the city more often. We recently visited the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The ticket booth was not yet open, so we stopped into Peet's for a latte and a cup of hot chocolate, as it was a typical gray, rainy San Francisco summer morning-

It was fun sitting at a cafe table on the corner and watching, hearing, and feeling all the busy-ness around us.

Once inside the museum (kids 12 years and under are free when accompanied by an adult!), we enjoyed the twinkling lights that hung over the entry. As we ascended the stairs, we could see that the lights actually formed a sort of video screen. One gallery had a lounge area with an interactive presentation where Munch could explore artists and styles, create her own artwork, and even email it so someone. The presentation, based on artist Roy de Forest's Country Dog Gentlemen, is also on the museum's website-

To prepare Munch for our visit, we had talked briefly during the drive over about modern art, the variety of media she would see, and I had her bring a notepad. Munch paused in several galleries to make little sketches of things she saw, but this portrait of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera inspired her to stop and draw for a long time-

The museum actually has a great education center, which we didn't come to until after exploring most of the second floor. However, I'd recommend that families stop in there first to pick up a few Family Guides or a MOMA treasure hunt, which contain fun activities to help keep kids focused and thinking about the artwork during their visit. There are even activities to keep adults entertained during their museum visit, many which have been designed by other guests (such as photograph the strangest item to be checked in to the coat check). Munch also chose to try an art hunt in which she donned a mask and adopted the persona of another character to try to find artwork in the galleries that might appeal to that imaginary character.

Before leaving, we sat and enjoyed this beauty, probably our favorite of the day, Collection by Robert Rauschenberg-

Artist(s) in Residence

As much as I loved the idea of a detached garage at our old house (you know, that whole out-in-the-country multiple building thing) opening to the alley, I didn't like the idea of schelpping all the way out there to do fix-it projects. Bonus points to our new house for having an attached garage! The problem? We can't get a car in there without a) blocking the second fridge, washer/dryer, and workbench or b) being blocked in by the car sitting out in the driveway.
So in the meantime, I've gotten busy with a number of furniture repainting projects (yay, utility sink!), and with Munch's cousin here for a sleepover this weekend, pulled out the easels so they could have some art time. Each of the girls got to choose a canvas and set up a paper plate palette of paints (say THAT three times, quickly!). I also gave them a jarful of assorted brushes, with the reminder to switch brushes when they wanted a new color so that their paint wouldn't get runny, from rinsing, or muddy.

Both girls started out with bright paintings of rainbows. As I dug through my various supplies, I also found palette knives, sponges, paper towel tubes, and other odds and ends which cousin D. eventually experimented with. She blotted paint to create a soft, smudgy effect, dipped the tube into paint to print designs over the painting, and played with scraping away paint with the palette knife. Now that the paint is dry, I think I'll give the girls additional art materials so that they can try adding collage elements or drawn elements to their paintings, followed by another round of painting. It will be interesting to see how their artwork evolves.

The Incredible Jesus

On Easter Sunday, I took Munch to church for the first time in our new neighborhood/parish. She's been to mass a handful of times before and I have emphasized the connection to Jesus during the holidays, but I've been waiting to introduce religion in a more purposeful way until she was old enough to understand it better. So when I decided to sneak in an afternoon snooze and left her alone with a handful of supplies and her impressionable imagination, this is what Munch came up with- attached to a door hanger even!

I'm not exactly sure why Jesus resembles the Incredible Hulk, but being that Munch has probably never heard of him (I feel old), it's probably totally a coincidence...

Wiggly Giggly

Have you heard of "eyebombing"?

A form of public art, you basically take those craft store "googly eyes" and stick them onto objects out in public, or as the eyebombing website states: "Eyebombing is the act of setting googly eyes on inanimate things in the public space. Ultimately the goal is to humanize the streets, and bring sunshine to people passing by."

Cute, isn't it? I think I may start carrying those peel and stick wiggly eyes around town with me!

More Painting With Kids

In addition to the word art Munch and I created, we also reworked another painting from a couple of summers ago-
While her cousin A. was visiting, I had the kids work on a joint self portrait. First, they planned their drawings on paper. A. decided he'd draw a mohawk on his head. Next, they decided what colors they'd use for themselves and the background. Once colors were decided, they got to work painting. It was interesting watching the way they collaborated, shared, and compromised while painting the canvas simultaneously.
Once the background was dry, the kids did a rough sketch of their pictures on the canvas. From working with Munch in the past, I learned to do the painting in stages and let each new addition dry before continuing so it wouldn't get muddy. I had Munch and A. begin by painting all the skin- the face, arms, and legs. After letting that dry, we moved on to painting the clothing and hair.
In between painting, the kids chased "the bad guys" (A. with his imaginary sword and Munch with a magic fairy wand) and decorated a gingerbread house.
Last came the details- facial features, shoes, and additional last-minute embellishments. I liked seeing the subtle differences in the way a 4 and 5 year old conceptualized and represented themselves.
On Christmas day, the painting was unwrapped by the grandparents-
Posing with the final product-

Word Art

As crazy as the holidays get, one thing I really enjoy doing over the winter break is collaborating with Munch to make art for the family. This year I was inspired by the "subway art" I've seen in many DIY blogs.

I began with this- one of several paintings Munch did a couple of summers ago when she was just beginning to explore with paint. I never cared for the muddiness that came from the brown and was just waiting to paint over it.
We started out by layering a mixture of black, brown, and red paint onto the canvas with a palette knife. I really liked how the brightness and texture of the previous painting enhanced the darker paint, making it richer and more interesting.
While it dried, I asked Munch for words and phrases that she associated with her grandparents. I sketched out a rough plan before typing them into the computer as word art, using a variety of fonts and sizes, in block letters. After printing them, I (very) carefully cut them out- the exacto knife (love those!) came in handy. Since I didn't have any modge-podge in the house, I thinned some Elmer's glue with water (about 3 parts glue to one part water), painted it onto sections of the canvas, and attached the word art. I found that the letters tended to wrinkle up a bit when wet, so I patted them down to better adhere to the canvas- the wrinkles themselves I didn't mind as they added more interesting texture.
Once the letters were fairly dry and ready for another coat of sealer, I thought they seemed a little "bright" so I mixed a few drops of brown paint into my next batch of thinned-out glue. Munch painted over the entire canvas with this mixture- the layer of paint started to bleed into our glue mixture, but I liked the effect.

The last things we added were collage materials that we rummaged around for in Munch's art area:
one of Munch's drawings of herself
an ice cream cone made from some a scrap of cereal box cardboard, tissue paper, and iridescent confetti
a shopping bag made from a bit of string and a Target logo cut from one of their mailers
a bit of ribbon
a few buttons
a foam heart sticker
a bowl of mac & cheese (our favorite addition) made from a bit of blue tagboard and some dry macaroni pasta that we painted orange

We painted on a final coat of glue to the entire project after attaching the materials above.
Time spent- much, but certainly not all, of a day
Money spent- nothing- I was still in my jammies and had no intention of leaving the house for supplies. We got creative with the materials we had on hand.
End result-

Munch's Updated Workspace

I had a difficult time this Christmas when people asked what they could get for Munch. She's REALLY into drawing, coloring, and writing right now and I ended up getting her lots of art supplies- coloring books, fat & bright colored pencils, some fun, decorated tape-isn't it cute? I always felt so badly for her because our main work space is a train table with lid. I'd find her sitting on top of it, hunched over the picture she was working on. So she really needed a proper table. Luckily, her grandparents agreed to get her one. I spent a few days looking, but many were either too short (she'd outgrow it too fast) or had such a small work space that we couldn't comfortably work together as we usually do. I finally found one on amazon from a school supply company.It's a great size that should carry her through the next several years, at least until first grade. It's still small enough for a tea party with her stuffed friends and big enough for her to cover it and make a fort. We had the darnedest time getting an undamaged one because of the way it was packaged (barely) but I finally got the table set up for her, rearranged her work area, and now she has everything she needs for creating some fun things!Munch's work space is in a nice, bright corner. Under the windows is an old chest/bench in which I keep the paints. The tall bookcase holds puzzles, games, crayons, markers, paper, stickers, and other supplies on the lower shelves where she can reach them. The upper shelves hold workbooks and craft supplies that she needs to ask me for (rubber stamps, pompoms, sticky foam shapes, glitter glue) for more involved or messy projects. The low book case holds more paper, beads, play-doh and dough tools, trays for containing the messes, foam dough (I LOVE this stuff-so easy to clean and no sticky residue!), her fish, and a little iPod and speaker. Tucked into the corners are a tall lamp and a new mini vacuum, the Dirt Devil Kurv, that she knows to use at clean up time. I'll just add a hook to hang her mini dustpan and sweeper and we'll be all set!

My Little Artist

Inspired by a past episode of J&K Plus 8, where Kate takes the little kids to do some painting, I picked up a few canvases at the beginning of summer. Munch planned the main colors and I added another complementary one or two as she painted. Here are the results-

I think I'll have her do one more so we have a group of three. Since our first two use red- maybe the third will be mostly pinks and reds.

You're So Crafty!

Ever since Munch was little, she's liked doing projects. While play-doh and drawing are relatively new interests, she's been hooked on stickers and those adhesive foam shapes for a while. She loves gluing shapes I cut out and it's been interesting to see how she arranges things. Lately, I've been teaching her to cut with scissors and she's finally mastered writing her name.

All her artwork gets displayed on the wall next to our dining table.

But I recently picked up a great idea on Oprah where they suggested photographing the art and using an online photo printing service to bind it into a book. It's a great way to keep the art on our wall fresh, but still "keep" the older things. Here's a few of my favorites-
This is one of her first- Munch made it at a Gymboree art class when she was about 2. I like it because it reminds me of a field of flowers (or kites).

This is our crab picture. I love using paper plates for projects. We also tried out those Crayola Colorslicks- they're kind of like an oil pastel.

A piece from her "feather" phase! Also, she just got her first set of rubber stamps.

More paper plate art- but this time, we brought out the watercolors too!

This came home from preschool a couple of months ago. It's your basic apple print, but I find it funny because she took one look at those apple halves and assumed it was snacktime!

More food art- can you tell she's my kid? When we started working on cutting skills, she wanted to make a hot dog!

Newest of all- a portrait of us!