My daughter has MAPEH as part of the DepEd required curriculum. Back in the day, I used to feel intimidated about arts. All I know is to just color within the lines, trace the pictures, or have my brothers do my art related projects for me. Seeing a blank bond paper overwhelms me. I was always worried about how my work would look like.
As my kid is growing, I realized how much she loves drawing. When she sees a blank space be it a cardboard box, our wall, the back of her books, or anything at all which her markers or crayons could write on, she would straightaway just doodle all over it. It came to a point where it has become a problem - a happy problem, I know - but still nonetheless, a problem that needs to be worked on. Now, she still draws on the boxes that we bring home from our grocery trips, but I have already purchased tons of drawing papers and notebooks for her, suitable for her every coloring material.
When water color classes isn't as exciting as she expected it to be
Being that my daughter loves drawings and has been holding the paint brush as early as 2 years old, I decided on enrolling her to an online watercolor class last year. She was actually excited about it. She did attend all the sessions and produced the outputs that were required. Looking at the artworks she created, I can say she enjoyed the sessions. But when I asked her, she had a few feedback. She said that the teacher was great but the session was just too quick for her. She was not sure if it was because it was cramped in a 1-hour session per day (they had 4 sessions) or the teacher was just too fast for her. I couldn't blame her, she was 6 when she joined the class, and the class was intended for 2nd graders and up. We have just started Grade 1 at the time and she was the youngest in the class.
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Aya's output during her online watercolor art sessions.
She avoided watercolors for a few months. I thought I'd give her some space. I myself was also overwhelmed anyways. It was after a few more months before I started to re-introduce watercolor art to her again. She has now a more refreshed perspective toward the medium. We did a nature study with the leaves of one of my plants, the golden pothos. I thought it would be a great way to practice nature study by closely and at the same time, the plant has different shades of green which she can practice blending.
This is when I figured out that she does indeed love it when I do the artwork with her. She does not feel like it when I'm hovering while she's painting. Well, who does, right? Now to avoid this, I would give her instructions before she starts painting, then I would go around the house doing chores while she finishes her painting. She feels uninspired when I do this. I gather she likes having me around but does not want me to watch her like a hawk while she's doing her artwork. So the best way to overcome this dilemma is for me to also create an artwork alongside her. I thought I'd give watercolor a try. And so it is that I came to create my first watercolor art.
My friend's sketch wayback 2014.For this week, I chose the sunflower art that one of my best friends drew for me way back in 2014. She was broken hearted at that time and I became her go-to person. We've tried everything to try and heal her broken heart. I even matched her up with a friend of a friend. She married that guy, by the way. I may or may not have a gift for matchmaking. LOL. But before we found her a partner, she was really devastated. Then I told her to give herself a diversion. Try a new hobby or try her old ones. She has a gift for sketching so she sketched me my favorite flower. Now, I'm not sure if it did help her with what she's going through but one thing's for sure, something good came out of that heartbreak. I told her we'll be using the artwork for our watercolor study, she is very much excited to see the end result. I think she might have even had that inkling to pick up that pen again and start sketching. I hope she does.
Several teaching moments during the watercolor art bonding
I have mentioned before that my daughter has a habit of aiming for perfection. She always wants to make sure that she does things perfectly. The beauty with watercolor is that each stroke doesn't need to be perfect. She could color beyond the lines, she could create a different shade of the color we're using, she has the freedom to create from the object we are trying to paint.
The main color of this watercolor art is yellow but we used several shades. We started with light wash, then medium wash, then dark wash, we also mixed a bit of orange, then we used different washes of brown as well, then black. Whenever we use a certain color, I just give her instructions like "We'll need a light wash of yellow for the background. So you'll have to more water to the yellow pigment." When I'm not doing my own color mix, my tendency would be to meddle with hers. It's a good thing I'm also working on my own painting so she gets the chance to work on her own mixes.
At one point when we were just starting our mother-daughter watercolor bonding, she began to cry. She says she did the color wrong. That was a chance for me to remind her that she needs to shift from focusing on perfection to exerting her effort to make her painting the most beautiful she could possibly do it. There were instances when she would stop and just get frustrated because she couldn't get the correct ratio of water and pigment.
Now, as a parent, it is easy for us to just jump in and help them create the right mix. But this activity helped me step back and let her handle the situation on her own. It took a lot of tries, and she used up a lot of watercolor, but in the end, she figured it out. On her own. Us parents stepping in to help robs our children of that joy they feel when they solved a problem by themselves. This is one of those situations when helping them isn't really actually helping them. And there will be lots of other situations in life when all we need to do is to step back so we can help our children. This watercolor bonding is proving to be full of lessons not just for my kiddo, but also for me.
Trying hard not to lose patience.Patience is a virtue that is not easy to instill on children. Watercolor painting requires a lot of this. While there are techniques when you need to apply the second color over the first while it is still wet, there are many times that the painter will have to wait for the first layer of watercolor to dry out before applying the next layer of color. I guess it's a good thing that Philippines is a naturally warm country, we did not have to wait too long for the watercolor to dry but still, we had to wait, nonetheless. We were able to practice brief moments of masterly inactivity during this session.
We also experienced the earthquake while we were painting. I immediately grabbed her and brought her under the table. She was about to cry because it was indeed scary but I taught her to keep calm and prioritize safety. Still holding our paintbrushes, we rushed under the table. My husband who was oblivious of what was going on asked us why we were under the table. lol!
Enjoying the process over fussing about the output
When you are working on something, especially a work of art, it is important to have a vision of what you want to achieve. That is what will guide your next steps. But more importantly, you should still get to enjoy the process. That is where the lessons are learned, and the memories built. I used to be too hung up how the end product will be, on how it will be seen by the world. But with the idea of enjoying the process, sure I am still concerned about how the artwork will look like, but I learned to focus more on the moments that my daughter and I had while we were having our watercolor bonding. This way, my daughter also learned to chill out and relax. After all, art is supposed to be an expression of ones self. I was just there to teach her how to use the paint brush, but essentially, she was the one who's supposed to figure out how to express herself through her art.
Disclaimer: I'm not an Arts teacher, nor do I have any background in arts, painting, or drawing
Nanay's Sunflower art.
Aya's sunflower art.Now, I do not have any experience in drawing or painting but as a homeschooling mother, I have to cope with the needs of my one and only student. And if there's one thing I have proved over the past few years I've been a mom and a homeschooling mom, one doesn't really have to have all those experience in order to educate their child. All they need is the love and devotion, the intent to provide the best kind of education to their child, and the will to overcome any hurdles set in front of them to achieve their homeschooling goals.
No, I am not an arts teacher. What I am is a mom who continuously puts effort in getting to know my kid in order to provide the best way for her to learn the things that she needs to know while inserting lessons and activities that ignite inspiration and internal motivation.
