When Creative Play Turns Very Very Messy

Sometimes my creative play ideas are fantastic and sometimes they are just pure messy chaos.  (If you are unsure what the Creative Play Projects are, click HERE)  This last project turned out to be the latter.  Still tons of fun, but definitely not for the faint of heart when it comes to creating a giant dirty mess.  Usually I like to video tape my son and I creating together, and then post it for you to witness the pure magical chaos and fun, and perhaps give you ideas for your own artsy playtime (presence of a kiddo is definitely not required to have fun like this!). 

Yesterday's project started with a very organized set up, two tables in the yard, one covered in garbage bags with our "canvas" on it, and one as a work area for paint and cups and whatnot.  My very compliant husband cut and screwed together several different sizes of squares together for us to pour our paint on, and I had gathered a bunch of old cheap craft paint that I had been collecting over the years, and one bucket of very old white house paint found rusting away in the garage which we would mix with the colored paints to get the amount we needed for this project and create a soft color palette for the end piece.  

I convinced my hubs to video tape us as we played, and just as I was talking him through my vision for the cinematography of it, we heard a crash on the concrete patio.  Looking up we see a mischievous little monkey holding his sticker book which I had absently placed under my video camera on the awning shelf, which was now in pieces on the patio.  So no more video camera for me, I was so sad, but could only blame myself for such poor placement and lack of foresight.  But that didnt stop our fun!

So its a picture story for you today...  Here is our morning of mess recreating "The Art of the Pour".

ALL SET UP.  HEY WHO STARTED PAINTING WITHOUT ME?

MIXING UP THE COLORS, ALREADY COVERED IN PAINT

HE BECAME OBSESSED WITH CLEANING UP THE ENTIRE TIME

AND THE POURING BEGINS!

HE WAS NOT VERY INTERESTED IN THE POURING, SO IT WAS MOSTLY JUST ME AS HE WATCHED

ITS STARTING TO FLOW!

HE WANTED TO TOUCH IT AND I TOLD HIM HE HAD TO WAIT UNTIL IT DRIED.  SO HE STARTED BLOWING ON IT.

EVEN MY DRIPS LOOKED AMAZING IN THE PAINT RIVER

MY FAVORITE UNEXPECTED DISCOVERY WAS THE PAINT SPILL IT CREATED IN THE DIRT AS THE EXCESS PAINT DRIPPED OFF THE TABLE.  SO PRETTY!

ALL DONE!  NOW JUST NEED TO LET IT DRY (WILL PROBABLY TAKE A WEEK!)

I am super psyched about how this project turned out, and even though my son didnt end up helping me pour the paint, he had a wonderful time helping and getting messy and that is what its really all about, right?!  I'll show you a end result pic once it is dried and on the wall.  Here's a fun end result that I had to deal with after all the paint clean up was done in the yard.

TIME FOR BUBBLE BATHS!

XO, HARMONY