Gargantuan Canvas

We had another packed out Garganutan Canvas workshop this past week and it was as usual, beautiful! Love what those kids are making around here. When I look back on the photos I snapped, I can't help but wish I had an art studio like this when I was growing up. I would've LOVED making huge canvas! There is something so healthy and freeing about letting children just paint big every once in awhile.

One year at Christmas (i think i was about 8 or 9), my brother and I somehow talked our parents into letting us paint windows in the house with a wintry theme (like stores do around the holidays). Funny, I know, but this was one of the jobs that was on my to do list when I grew up. I used to love seeing new, Christmas themed paintings around town and thought those artists were AMAZING :)

I clearly remember walking into Vessey Drugs in Aptos (I just aged myself for all of you that remember good old Vessey's (proud of that!) and picking out bottles of powdered tempera paint with my dad. It was SO exciting! I had no idea what I was even going to paint, but it felt so important and teachery to be able to use the same paint we used at school in our house for a special project just for us to do. They let me and my older brother pick which windows we were going to use and let us have at it. It took me all day and even into the night before I was finished with my "masterpiece." I remember my dad coming out at night and telling me I was about to miss dinner as I was putting on the last snowballs in the sky. It was cold and dark, but I didn't care.
And there it went. A tradition was born that year, and every year, for several years after that, we looked forward to painting another window.My parents and all of our extended family seemed to love whatever we made and it was such a confidence boost to have them all come over and see what we made every year. As I look back on that, I am grateful for my parents just letting us be kids. My mom cared about how the house looked and everything was just magical about the decorations at our house at Christmas time, but somehow in the mix, she was still able to work with my dad insisting on getting a 14 foot Christmas tree (not kidding, we WERE that family in Christmas Vacation) and very cool with letting us kids have a corner to do and create whatever we wanted. I cherish that.

So my advice to all of you who have growing up ones out there:let them be kids! The projects in the house can be stressful and messy but the big, finished product hanging up after, is so important for little ones to feel like they are really a part of the home somewhere. It gives them something to feel proud of to look at. It changes houses into homes in my opinion. And hey, if painting with permanent paint isn't for you, don't under estimate the greatness of painting with water and brushes on concrete or wood in the sunshine all day to pass the day along (I will vouch for that too as some pretty fantastic childhood memories). Happy painting!