It is truly miraculous what I'm able to pull out of my you-know-what sometimes.
Give me a deadline, I'll waste the clock, freak out at the last minute, and somehow, by the grace of whatever, pull it off.
I signed myself up for a DIY art project contribution to Merry Mag Summer (#MerryMagSummer launching June 8th!), then promptly focused solely on home renovations and craft show prep.
So, when crunch time arrived, as crunch time always does, I ran straight to Pinterest for inspiration.
But the thing about Pinterest when you're pressed for time is that it's a) a time sucker and b) so hard not to just copy everyone else's great ideas.
There's a fine line between inspiration and straight up plagiarism.
It was time to challenge myself.
I love water colour. I love it's unpredictable nature. The way it blends with the page and layers with colours.
The way it washes out of children's clothing...
I had seen some really pretty wax reliefs online and thought that might be a fun place to start. So I grabbed my trusty Crayola's, some paper and water colours and sat down to work.
Clementine's ears perked up the moment I shook the first crayon out of the box and the project quickly transformed into a "crafting with kids" opportunity. (As most of my projects do these days)
I have had a mild obsession with pineapples ever since I decided to wallpaper our off-kitchen powder room with them (project update to follow), so I thought I might try my hand at creating a complementary piece of art.
White crayon in hand, I began to sketch a pineapple on water colour paper.
Like so.
So far so good.
I then grabbed a paintbrush and some yellow paint and began to add a light wash of paint over my wax markings.
And here's where it all went sideways.
I should probably do a little more research before delving into new projects, but that's not really my style, so for whatever reason (I refuse to look it up) my water colour paint had absolutely no problem adhering to the crayon wax.
You can see a few spots where my vision tried to come to life, but overall, my method was a capital eff FLOP.
While I was muttering a puttering in search of a solution, Clem had begun quietly doodling over her own painting experimentation, and just like that, Plan B presented itself!
Sometimes the simplest answers are the best.
All the times the simplest answers are the best.
I began painting imperfect water colour circles in a variety of colours until I'd filled the page.
I then poured myself a G&T, gave Clementine a Sharpie and instructed her to draw sleeping faces using my blobs as heads.
Because she is a brilliant child, and the gin had softened my need for perfection, she did this perfectly.
Like all true artists she signed her work, and I promptly framed it for my office using a frame that was destined for the Salvation Army. (Note to self: Never throw out a perfectly good frame).
I love this piece so much!
It was simple as pie, fun to do together and turned out cute as a button.
A definite "try this at home" project!
For more projects like this, make sure to check in for the launch of Merry Mag Summer!
In the meantime you should one million percent take a peek at #MerryMagSummer curator Melissa's blog The Sweet Escape. Because it's beautiful and inspiring.
Merry Mag Summer launches online June 8th (my dining room makeover is featured!) and will be chock full of great DIYs, home projects, recipes, fashion inspiration and more more more!
xo Em
