Paint the Walls then Deck the Halls....

Watch a youngster with a paint brush...he will make happy, broad strokes of color without too much worry about size or shape.  A child mostly loves the "doing," enjoys the process, and is not at all worried about the product.  I had several of those days recently...pure bliss with my paint brush, leftover paint and a wild imagination.

I was nominated (or volunteered) to "do" the playroom of a new home.  It didn't take me long to decide that I wanted to create the woods for these two little boys (ages 4 and 3).  I wanted them to be able to pretend they were camping and doing all the wonderful things that go with being outside.

Kids love hidden-spaces so I knew we had to have a tent (easily fashioned with a shower rod and curtains) and I ordered a few pre-made park signs.  Then I gathered up leftover acrylic house paint, a few other colors and a bunch of brushes.  Off I went to the land of imagination.

We "put up" the tent in a corner and filled it with pillows and hooks (and lanterns and books).  And I started painting there...no pencils, no previous drawings...I wanted to feel like a kid so I started with a river and a horizon of mountains.  No color went higher than the mountains as they had previously hung glow in the dark stars: perfect.

Of course there is no perfect perspective!  Kids don't care.  What they did like tho is that the center of these gigantic flowers (a pizza tin) is magnetic and they can easily hang stuff on them.  I continued around the corner where I met a closet and a previously hung painting of owls.

A bear cave...but of course!  They love to chase their grandpop, aka The Bear, into dark corners so I made a cave.  (see hobby lobby sign) And the owls didn't have to be moved because the tree branch came right over the cave to allow them to perch.

They already had a plastic grill so it seemed the perfect space to promote cooking and eating.  And when the older grandson had a sneek peek his only request was that I add a sun...done!

What you don't see here is the rug aka "fire pit" with papermache logs (paper towel cardboard rolls) and the flames of a fire (red ribbons tied to soft wires surrounded by stones).  For 3 amazing days we managd to play every camping game we could imagine.

All too soon it was back to a toy-strewn playroom filled with pieces and parts of a variety of toys, trucks, puzzles and coloring books. But as a grandma who loves the outdoors and wants her grands to enjoy and respect it as well, I am hoping that now and again they will look up on the wall and enjoy the free flowing trees and rivers and mountains and have happy memories of tossing stones and cooking marshmallows.  No doubt some playdate will ask what it all means and they will have fun explaining.

So go ahead: paint the walls, let your imagination flow and swirl and cover up big spaces with not-so-perfect images.  I had great fun and my husband and I laughed that it won't be too many years before he will be back painting over all of this to make a blank palatte for a new theme.

Cindy Michaud
www.cindymichaud.com
questions: art@cindymichaud.com