My kids took art classes for a few years. The teacher came to the house and often I would be involved in deciding what they would work on. I wanted them to create items they could use in their personal spaces while learning new techniques.
The girls shared a room at the time. I was looking to add artwork to the walls, painted in those days in Benjamin Moore's Cotton Candy (shown below). The colors in their room were pink and green primarily, with a touch of blue and yellow (accents).
Cotton Candy by Benjamin Moore
One of the artworks I came across at that time and loved was this one shown below or something quite similar by the artist, Maria Carluccio. I had seen it online at Pottery Barn Kids (if I remember correctly) but it is no longer available. I had kept a photocopy of it but cannot seem to locate it. To give you an idea of the design here is one very similar done by the artist herself. The colors are a little different from the one I saw.
I loved the mix of colors and that there is a different pattern to each butterfly and that they appear ethereal and almost translucent. I wanted my kids to recreate something similar for their shared room and I thought this would look amazing.
Supplies used :
-blank 19x15 canvas boards,
-tissue in white and other colors,
-craft paints
-Mod Podge.
This is what they created:
With watered-down paint they brushed paint onto the tissue and let the colors run into each other. Once the paint was dry, butterfly shapes were cut out. The stripe effect came about by accident when Emily put Mod Podge on a strip of colored tissue paper, intending to stick it on the canvas. She placed it on the canvas but it didn't quite stick, and the dye from the tissue left its mark in a stripe. Thus followed this new-found method of adding color to artwork (for them, at least). The antennae were added on with a fine tipped black Sharpie. Lastly, Mod Podge was applied over the entire canvases.
Each of the girls did one. I love how these turned out. They were four and seven years old at the time. (Next picture taken while in the midst of hanging curtains therefore none on the right).
These are one (two) of my favorite pieces in the house. These are now hanging in Emily's room which was painted Benjamin Moore's Blue Bayou before it became her room. They work against a blue wall, too. They would work against any color depicted in the artwork.
I love that the girls still enjoy their butterflies as much as I do. I think the pieces are a good imitation of the original, the same aesthetic was achieved and yet they are different. And I also love that they are two different pieces instead of one. Some day when the girls are in their own homes they will get one each although it would be a shame to break up the pair. I guess they could always create another two!.
Is this something you could see yourself creating or have your kids do? The technique could be applied to any subject, really.
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Lisa
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