Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Matisse and Cassatt

I mentioned earlier that The Offspring were in charge of the grandparents' and great-grandparents' gifts this year.

They painted pictures. I have been anxious to do this since seeing Lia's family picture. It is classic kid art...the best art around as far as I'm concerned.

I painted the backgrounds blue.

The Boy sketched his pictures ahead of time.

The Girl painted extemporaneously.

I had plenty of paint brushes so we didn't have to worry about rinsing them with each color change.

Cups of water and wet paper towels were also close at hand.

I was really impressed with the time taken on every picture and the thought that went into the subject matter. Both of The Offspring gave consideration to what each grandparent would like based on their interests.

They painted four canvases apiece. I thought this would take a couple of days, but they were able to complete them in one session...with an M&M break, of course.

A few of the finished pieces:

Self portrait of The Girl and Teddy,
by The Girl.


Blue Bird, by The Boy.

Flower Garden, by The Girl.

Vegetable Garden, by The Boy.

I'm happy to report that all grandparent-types were quite taken with their gifts this year.

And I'm quite taken with this new gift-giving tradition.