Monday, October 29, 2012

Creative Displays for Children's Artwork

BUDDING ARTISTS MISSION: When parents preserve and promote children's imagination, children value creativity. In an increasingly complicated world, we need future creative problem solvers. Budding Artists makes it easy and fun.

Do you struggle with ideas of what to do with all the artwork that your child creates? While we understand that you cannot keep every piece of artwork that is created, in order to value your child's artistic efforts, it is important that you keep some. Even that can quickly fill up file folders and boxes, if your kids are prolific artists. So what do you do with it to let your children know how much you value their artwork and creativity? How about displaying some of it in creative ways

CREATIVE DISPLAYS FOR CHILDREN'S ARTWORK


Source: bhg.com via Su on Pinterest

  • How about popping a wall in your living room and featuring special selections of art in it? Experiment with different frames, matching or mismatched matting, sizes and more. Go with a theme to the artwork or mix it up according to what artwork you have and love.




  • If you want something less dramatic, why not feature a rotating string of artwork? You can add new artwork as it comes in and remove the oldest artwork from rotation. This idea also incorporates the dilemma of different sized art.


  • Here is a solution that gives your children more control over what gets displayed - clipboards that your children can maintain. For every new piece of art that goes up, the last piece is again removed. It doesn't take up much space or finances, but is pleasing none the less. 







What about taking your favourite art pieces and incorporating them into everyday items? Budding Artists carries a wide range of products that can be personalized with your child's artwork. These items make great Christmas gifts, teacher presents or just a wonderful way to celebrate your child's artwork every day.

Customized Gifts Using Children's Artwork
How do you display your children's artwork?

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

The Power of Imagination

Imagination is more important than knowledge ~ Albert Einstein
That is a pretty heavy quote from a pretty heavy thinker. How can imagination be more important than knowledge? Why should we value imagination? Where does it take us and how do we use it? The answer lies in the eyes of a child and their view of the world.



From the moment a child is born, the world is theirs to discover. It is filled with a myriad of shapes, colours and images to draw their eyes and minds. It is the power of a child's wondering that makes that world come alive. Without a little curiosity, they would not reach for blocks, respond to a mother's smile, or attempt to explore their world as a whole. It is that curiosity that sparks imagination and a whole new world to open up. What would happen if they hit that mobile? Imagine if it brought it closer to them, so that they could explore it more! Wow; and life colours into vibrant hues.
Trust that little voice in your head that says 'Wouldn't it be interesting if...'; And then do it ~ Duane Michals
Mona Lisa
As children grow older, their imagination expands and grows. Young minds take all that they have learned from the world around them in through their senses, and expand that into play, creativity, reasoning and so much more. Imagine if Leonardo da Vinci had not been curious about the world around him. Not only would the world be without the likes of "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper", but also his concepts in flight, anatomy, civil engineering and so much more. Many of the concepts that he worked on had no footing in his day and age, but through imagination, he brought them to the world then and now. Truly, imagination was da Vinci's greatest tool and gave much to society as a result of it. Think where today's imagination might take us tomorrow!
To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted ~ George Kneller
So while we value organized and learned behaviour, the fact of the matter is, is that without dreams, ambitions and a large dose of imagination, we would be stuck in a rut going nowhere. We require imagination to think outside the box, and develop new thoughts and ideas. Imagination fuels poetry, fiction, painting and any new invention out there. It helps us come up with new ways of looking at things and new ways of performing them. Think where art would be without imagination - boring and lifeless. Science Fiction wouldn't even be a dream, let alone a tool to help us reach the sky and stars beyond. And progress in any other aspects of our life would stop overnight. We need imagination to live, breathe and be the best that we can be. Life would cease to sparkle without it.
Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try! ~ Dr. Seuss

Monday, October 15, 2012

Eye Can Art: A Project with the Layered Wax Drawing Kit



On a lazy, damp Sunday with nothing to do,
a Budding Artists art kit is pulled out with a big Yahoo!
Not any old art on this soggy day
but an EYE CAN ART kit to chase the blues away.

So we opened the can and looked inside
to see what goodies our creativity could guide
Joy, oh bliss, in a small wood frame
"and a set of pastels to decorate it!", we exclaimed.




The girls set out with a vision in mind
their colours were brilliant, all combined
A landscape emerged, a tree I see
with flowers in a row, how pretty!




The last touches added,
and it was ready to go!
One last glimpse
before into the oven, it was stowed.

Just add beeswax
overtop

 

Watch the bubbles
til they stop!


Out it came
all hot, hot hot!


Till it cooled
and the wax did clot

One last task
Before we were through
To decorate on top
and add more colours anew!



My vampire girl
was ever so pleased
with her Eye Can Kit
and the artwork she conceived

~

Big thanks to Maria & Budding Artists
for the fun Layered Wax Drawing Kit 
that filled our Sunday afternoon
with some creative fun!

It was as easy as...

draw, melt, cool, colour a little more
and hang on the wall to enjoy!

Find more creative art projects online 
or in one of the new Budding Artists workshops
as highlighted below;