Doing research for an article, I ended up immersing myself
in it—painting, drawing, and sketching. I interviewed art teachers, fine
artists, and illustrators. I visited an elementary school art class, purchased
new art supplies, watched demo videos online, and started creating art on my
own. I learned way too much for a magazine article. So I decided to blog about the spill-over. Day one: oil pastels.
Recently, I was given a pack of Crayola oil pastels. These are wonderful! Although it will feel similar to using crayons, oil pastels are smoother—they just slide across the paper. And the colors are brighter—they really pop on color paper. (Here was one mom's comparison: Oil pastel vs crayon) Oil pastels are messier than crayons, but great for sit-down projects. My kids don’t even want a snack after school because they want to use these.
Some tips:
- Put newspaper underneath workspace.
- Don’t have your child cover the whole page in pastels (especially black).
- Wear old clothes.
- Have your child try overlapping colors—they totally blend together!
- Have them rub their finger over the color.
- Give your child different colors of construction paper.
- Look at famous artwork to mimic.
- Join in the fun. Not only did my kids love me joining in, but the conversations that naturally flowed when we were all busy was amazing.
