Tuesday’s Resourceful Little Idea

Paintings! One-Off Pieces of Artwork that Won’t Break the Bank.

Ok, I know this isn’t exactly an original idea, but if you’re looking for nice pieces of artwork to decorate a child’s room with, but can’t afford anything original from Etsy and don’t want to resort to cheap clichéd prints that are mass-produced or themed, how about getting your children to produce the art?

All you need is to buy some canvases, which you can get quite cheaply from most art supply shops, as well as paint (acrylic for younger children, oils for older ones) and some paintbrushes. Then, depending on the age of your children and how much control you want over the finished product, you can either give them lots of supervision or just leave them to it.

When the boy was a baby I just used his hands to make handprints in bright colours. When he was a toddler he made a wonderful splatter painting using sponges soaked in paint and a wooden spoon, and when he was 6 he painted two beautiful oil paintings of vehicles. I have to admit here that I supervised quite a bit, encouraging him to work on the paintings over a number of days in order to cover all the white of the canvas in paint and showing him a number of techniques to use when working with oil paints. The actual artwork was his though and now hangs proudly in his room.

Splatter Painting

 

 

 

All children love having their artwork displayed, right? I have various drawings the boy has done all over the house, but I think there is something special about oil paintings on canvas, and think they make a wonderful addition to any child’s art gallery. And if they’re good enough, you might even want to display them in other rooms around your house or give them as presents to other family members!