Tiptoeing Through the Tulips!!!

Where I live in the Midwest, winter can seem to last forever!!! It is always a good day when we see the promise of new life and spring arriving. 

My granddaughter, Sophia, spends her days off from school with me.  Sophia is very creative and always loves to have a project to do. My friend, Pam, sent me this fun spring project!  It was easy to do and she had lots of fun making spring pictures for the family.

The first thing we did is gather all of the materials together. 

Tip: I almost always use an inexpensive plastic tablecloth when we are doing projects.  It makes clean up so easy.  I find colorful tablecloths usually for $1 or $2. I like the large 120” rectangular ones because I can cut them into smaller sizes as needed. If they can be cleaned up, I just wipe them with a damp cloth and fold them up for the next project. When they get really messy, I just toss them. 

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Materials

• Heavy paper such as card stock
• Scrap piece of paper – for practice
• Paper plates or pallet – for paint puddles
• Variety of old brushes – for stems and details
• Container with water – to clean brushes
• Paper towels – to dry brushes after washing them between colors
• Paint – I really like the Patio Paints.  The colors are so brilliant, and the paint is really a good quality.  I use them for lots of my painting projects
• Stainless Steel Forks – small & large – They are very easy to clean. We tried several different kind of plastic forks, but because of the way they are made with the little ridge on the back edge of the fork, they did not work for this project.
• Optional: table covering and smock

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Put several puddles of paint on a paper plate. Roll the back of the fork in the paint puddle. Then roll the fork onto the paper to create a tulip. Once the paint dries, a second layer can be put onto the first layer to give dimension and excitement. There is no right or wrong color. 

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When you are the artist, you can be creative and make it any color you want.  Once all of the tulips are on the paper, use a brush to make the stems and leaves.

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Sophia is very much of a perfectionist when doing her artwork. She is the only child I know that can paint all day long and not have a drop of paint on her finger or clothes.  I will have paint all over me!  It is a little embarrassing.

When we were looking at the picture after it was finished, something seemed to be missing.  After some brainstorming we came up with fingerprint insects!  Sophia looked up fingerprint insects on the internet. She used her practice paper to create different insects since she had never made fingerprint insects before. She experimented until she was happy with the results. She chose caterpillars to add at the bottom of the paper and bumble bees flying in the air. 

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She did this by just putting her thumb in the paint, (which was a little stressful for her since she did not have any paint on her) and just pressing her thumb onto the paper.  Once the paint dried, she used a liner brush to add details like eyes, mouths, wings, antennae & stripes.  Don’t forget to sign and date your artwork!

Joy in little things: grandchildren, spring tulips, fingerprint insects, and the hope of new life.

I am never quite sure who has more fun, the kids or me. I think it is a toss-up. 

Heartfully,

Sue

P. S. Make sure to leave your comments. I love hearing all of your special ideas too!

All images © 2020 Sue Ragan Hollow All rights reserved.

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