I have never considered myself to be very artistic, yet I have always considered myself to have a love of art.

In having a love of art, I try to give my children the same opportunities as I had as a child in order for them to hopefully also appreciate all it has to offer. I don’t believe that they have to be the best painter or sculpture to do this. Rather they need to be observant and true to themselves and their likes and dislikes.

Often when people think of art they only think of things like paintings, drawings, sculptures and craft work. However, art is so much more and affects every part of our lives every day. Art is obvious in all things like the clothes we wear, the buildings we live in and the items we use. It is also evident in the photographs we take, the meals we cook and the way we present ourselves and our homes. The music we listen to is art, as well as the films we watch and the video footage we take. Art is evident everywhere, every day of our lives, we just have to look beyond the obvious.

Art is the manner in which we arrange (or rearrange) items for the pure enjoyment over our senses, emotions and intellect. It involves colour, textures, patterns, mediums, visual representations and so much more. Art can invoke any and all of our emotions, and we don’t just need to go to an art gallery to enjoy it. It is constantly around us all the time.

So with this in mind I am always encouraging my children to be little artists. Through presenting them with opportunities to express themselves in any manner they choose. This includes such things as the clothes they wear, the colours they choose and the hairstyles they want. It also involves providing them with opportunities to explore more traditionally thought of forms of art, such as painting, drawing and sculpture as these are great ways for them to express themselves also.

So next time you are thinking of doing an art activity with your child/ren, Why not go for a walk around your local community and discuss the styles of architecture used in the buildings you pass, or have them present a meal as an art form.

Other ways you could enhance your child/rens artistic talents and love of art in general include:

• Letting them take a drawing book to bed rather than a reading book, from time to time,
• Going for a walk in nature, picking some flowers and coming home to arrange them in a vase
• Inventing something? Not just to be functional, but also visually pleasing
• Exploring fashion over the ages. What changes are obvious? Why might this be?
• Exploring colour choices, why is it said that ‘Blue and green should only be seen on a fool?’
• Architecture? How have things such as doors and windows in different age buildings changed over time? Why might that be?
• Hairstyles – how have they altered over time? Styles / colours / size
• By giving them access to things like musical instruments, camera’s and video camera’s for use whenever they choose
• Pointing out natural beauty when out and about on a nature walk or hike

The possibilities are endless, so next time you think of having an art activity, why not try to think outside the square!

For our learning the other day we made egg tempura paints and then painted with them. The children enjoyed crushing up the chalk to a fine powder with rocks before mixing it with some egg yolk and water.

We used stones we collected from the east coastline of Tasmania on a earlier trip around that way to crush the chalk into a fine powder. Then we whisked egg yolk and water together to make a frothy mixture. Once this was done we added in the crushed chalk to give the paint base some colour.

The results were stunning. Our first batch of paint was too watery and did not have enough pigment (chalk) in it. Therefore it stayed moist longer allowing for us to paint easily before the paint dried. But as Egg Tempura paint is supposed to be fast drying and lend itself just to short strokes with a paint brush, the second patch of paint we created from the egg yolks, chalk and water was much more ‘authentic’ and true to itself.

Recipe for Egg Tempura Paint

• Chalk Sticks. 2-3 small chalk sticks per paint colour or one large sidewalk chalk stick per colour.

Crush chalk into a fine dust. We used stones to do this but a mortar and pestle would work very well.

• One egg yolk per colour
• 2 teaspoons of Water

Whisk egg yolk and water together to form a froth mixture – like for scrambled eggs. Add in Chalk dust to mixture. Mix in well. This will then form a thick paste. The texture should be very thick. If it is not then just add more chalk until it is.

The result was stunning paints with a goldish shine to each colour.