Motherhood intersecting with art has probably been one of the most inspiring things to happen in my life. Before Lucy arrived I was so afraid that I would lose my desire to create (you can read about it here) but instead, the opposite happened! I have MORE love and desire for creating than ever before and I have my little muse- Lucy Matisse to thank.
My latest creative endeavor has been been making handmade coloring books for Lucy. After watching her take my sketchbooks and try to color over my drawings I decided to get to work creating some simple little books with lines drawings that she could paint and color.
I know that creating a handmade coloring book is nothing new but I love the idea of making custom art for my daughter to color instead of buying something. And what started out as a simple idea became a process that was very profound and special for me as an artist/mom. All the drawings were made with lots of love and made me feel even more connected to my little one. Each page, though simple, was made with her 1 year old interests in mind, I used all of the words that she knows, images that she loves and drew them one by one. They are by far some of my most profound work...imagine that!
When I finished drawing, I photocopied the pages and created a few books by biding the pages together with twine. (perhaps when she gets older I'll do a fancier job of biding!)
I even made a little book full of dots and tiny little doodles- this kid loves to color dots!
The result is a collection of wonderful little custom coloring books for her to color, paint or even rip apart and feed to her sock monkey (it happened). It is a creative project that that I will continue for as long as she lets me!
For those who have asked- I let Lucy create with just about anything (crayons, markers, watercolors, acrylic paint) as long as we are supervising.
Oh how beautiful!!! I wish I could sit there together with lovely, lovely, cute Lucy and color the pretty little doodles!!!!
ReplyDeleteDelightful book Alisa and a wonderful keepsake. She is a very lucky little girl!
ReplyDeletewhat a wonderfull idea ! I love it !!
ReplyDeleteshe is absolutely cute ! <3
ReplyDeletehttp://japobsganbare.blogspot.com/
She is so absolutely adorable and how is it that gets more so every time we see her? xo
ReplyDeleteThis is a Wonderful ART Project!
ReplyDeleteYour little girl is a sweetie!
Such a beauty for the eyes and soul! Love the moment of working with concentration :P
ReplyDelete"Oogaboo" is totally "look at that book!" She is as proud of you as you are of her!
ReplyDeleteAlisa, you are so amazing and sweet. I'm thrilled each time you share a profound moment with Lucy, she is just making your art thrive and grow more then you/we could imagine.
ReplyDeleteLOVE LOVE this idea, later you can add her name in to color and pictures of her family and her own personal favorite foods/toys/numbers and more. What a great idea this is for her. These pages look amazing, so inspired by what you do and finding the time to do it all.
ENJOY YOUR COLORING BOOKS LUCY!!
p.s. her outfit is adorable, love the dots on her shirt. I'm a dot/circle kinda girl too.
What a wonderful idea. Your coloring book looks amazing. And love the video, she is really investigating.
ReplyDeleteI'm a nanny for three days a week, when the kits are playing a make a drawing of them, so they can color it. Next time I will make a scan of it first, so I can make a coloring book for them to. So nice
Here you can see some of my drawing, in combo with toys I made. http://monstermatti.nl/blogitem/2642461206068404634
I drew for/with my kids ever since they were babies. Often they requested the same drawing over and over (a knight fighting a dragon). Now, all four of them LOVE to draw! And the fine motor skills really helped their handwriting, too.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the first photo where she's holding upside down! She's adorable, you are so lucky to have her.
ReplyDeleteawesome idea and one that Lucy will love long after she's left home! I just LOVE watching her grow...she is adorable!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a fabulous idea! I love how you're able to combine your love of creating art, with your love of experimenting in your sketchbook, with getting Lucy interested in your artwork, with teaching Lucy about art and words and shapes, with giving her her own books to mess around with. I don't have kids, but this makes me want to create such a book for myself, maybe using my own interests and inspirations. Might be nice to have when I get stumped, just to sit and color or doodle.
ReplyDeletethats great! love this idea. and what a sweet baby voice! shes a cutie!!!
ReplyDeletehow wonderfully inspiring!
ReplyDeleteHurrah for exposing her to all different media!
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother was horrified when I told her that I let my kids use my paint. I told her that if they work with the good stuff, they won't get frustrated by the flaws of poor materials and they can focus on just MAKING ART.
Being a Mum is brilliant, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteLovely idea and something to treasure as well.
x
oh wouaw...that's a wonderful idea to connect with her needs, words and image...yes they are better than the one you could buy...it it more personnal and you can draw so well, really don't need to buy anything...you are amazing mom...she is so cute and adorable that magnifique Lucy...it is always pleasure to see her with you on your blog...thanks to share those precious moments....I am a grandma since one year and You inspire me to try to make some color book for my little Eve...do you use a special paper??
ReplyDeleteThis is great! and I love the faces on the critters!
ReplyDeleteWish i thought of this years ago,when my child was a todler.Very cool idea indeed making the book all about what she knows and likes.
ReplyDelete<3 Is she beautiful, or is she beautiful!?!? I can see her doing the same for her little one someday. You are both teaching each other so much. I knew this would happen ;D)
ReplyDeleteThat is the cutest thing I have seen! I am visiting my sis and watching the kids while they are gone. We have been crafting/creating everyday! They are 4 and 7 and love to do whatever it is I am doing! We just did spray inks yesterday with stencils! OH MY what fun! I think it's important to teach the kids these types of things! Lucy is going to be just like her mom and dad!
ReplyDeleteSuch a great idea, my little artist ends up with my cast offs to colour, she'll love a book of mummy's drawings to colour. Will share your link when I share my book :)
ReplyDeleteLucy is so beautiful, and a great little Picasso! So wonderful she's helping your creativity grow :)
that is one cute muff....really. and what a thoughtful thoughtful gift for her! when my boys were teeny, one thing i did that they LOVED was to take a photo (up close) of each person in their lives & pets and bound them together in a book. far and away their very favorite books EVER. the first and last one they asked for daily. they loved pointing to their peeps and "saying" their names.
ReplyDeleteI am constantly amazed that both mother and daughter can play with paint and not get it all over their clothers! I always wind up a mess.....
ReplyDeleteWhat a lucky little girl/artist! I love that you let her use all kinds of mark makers, including pens, and that it's ok if she rips one up and feeds it to her sock monkey. : ) Awesome mom.
ReplyDeleteAlisa I really applaud you letting your daughter get "messy" and setting her free to experiment and create! My children are grown now, but I remember my own mother being horrified by my letting my children go nuts with glue and glitter and painting with chocolate pudding and colored shaving cream! I remember trying to cook dinner with two toddlers and I always gave them wooden spoons, pots and bowls filled with water so they could "cook" in their corner of the kitchen. As you can imagine, water was usually everywhere but we had so much fun "tasting" as we "cooked." My mother could not believe the mess one evening and I said to her, "mom, by giving them a little water, they are having more fun and really using their imaginations - they are also allowing me to get our dinner ready so in the end, everyone is happy and all I have to do is wipe up a little water at the end. It is worth it! I guess the lesson here is that if we don't stifle our children, we open their minds up to a world of possibilities - and we all have fun along the way. You are a great mom, Alisa - keep it up!!!
ReplyDeleteToo cute!!! What a fabulous keepsake!
ReplyDeleteYou're amazing Alisa! Where do you find the time! You should totally market these in your shop! Very sweet & such wonderful memories Lucy will have of creating with your doodles! TFS!
ReplyDeletejust precious!! :) xo
ReplyDeletegan steady infonya very good and very interesting,,,,,
ReplyDeleteHi Alisa-I would like to learn about what is the best paper to use for wet media. It seems that whatever I use -buckles and doesn't look so good after using watercolor paints.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sandy