Family Painting
#Stayhome family bonding idea #3

“All you need to paint is a few tools, a little instruction, and a vision in your mind”
#BobRoss
When you pull up to our home and see our driveway, you know artists live here. We converted the garage into an art studio and thus the driveway was where canvases were primed. It then became where stencils were sprayed, and eventually it became a work of art in and of itself. There isn’t a room in our home that doesn’t have a painting painted directly on the wall, el fresco style. I long ago gave up on the idea that our home would look like a page out of a home magazine. Our space is uniquely us, and as Pablo Picasso said “Painting is just another way of keeping a diary”  Our home, lovingly  christened Engelside, is a diary of our family’s  lives.  We paint, well… because we paint. The thing about any art form is the more you do it, the more you love to do it.
Over the years we’ve given the boys access to walls, to canvases, to spray paint and even to our expensive brushes- although the final stage of the cleaning process involves the lick test. If you can lick the brush- its clean.  We’ve found that If you have paint and canvases out and available that’s half the battle. Get the tools and the inspiration will follow. We’ve all painted for years, but this “sheltering in” time has brought a new iteration; family painting sessions. It started with the boys doing the Bob Ross painting classes on you tube. They would all gather in front of the TV and work with Bob to create a landscape.  At first I was content to take videos and photos and capture the sessions. And then their excitement became contagious. With each Bob Ross session one more if us joined in.  That became so enjoyable we started branching out into other ideas. Last Sunday we had a paint off. The boys built a game table, which looked to us like a huge wood canvas waiting to be adorned. We broke into 2 teams. Each team got three words from the opposing team,  and two hours to paint their side of the table.  The best part about “shelter- in”is we are experiencing art together. This time has inspired us, we will continue to paint, draw, and create together. It’s not about who’s painting looks the best, or who’s trees are the most realistic. It’s about the process. About the movement, the color, the texture. It’s about how once you open the right side of your brain, endless possibilities open up in other areas.  Writing, music, business ideas, travel plans, you name it. Because once you open your day up to creativity- it spills over into all the areas of your life. #butterflybtc