Havin' a Blast!!!

Yesterday I took Kyndal, Dawson and Brynne to Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa to Art Blast, a free event for families.  I had originally planned on taking all of the kids, but then decided that it probably wasn't Eli's "thing", so decided to let him and daddy have a day together.  (That ended up being a wise choice, by the way!!!)

So, the kids and I headed in, not knowing what to expect.  I told them, "Guys, this could be the lamest thing we've ever done!  But, let's just experience it and see what happens." You know what, it was one of the funnest things we have done in a while!  And it was free.

Kyndal really just went with me to help me with the little ones.  Dawson and Brynne have the passion for art.  But once we got there and went to the first class, Kyndal was hooked! Her and Dawson attended a class with Joey Frisillo and had the opportunity to do Plein Air painting with pastels.  She gave them some general tips, a box of pastels, a drawing clipboard with different kinds of paper, and sent them outside.  She told them to look for an object that inspired them, a large item and use the pastels to create what they saw in that object ~ thus impressionist art.  So, they each found their spot and their object and went to work.  (It was pretty windy and chilly, but they go so into it that they forgot they were cold.)

I wish, wish, wish I would have taken photos of the objects they were painting so you could see what their eyes saw.  It was so amazing that it made me teary!  Brynne and I took off to do some activities while they painted and went back to check on them an hour or so later.  They were so excited to show me what they had done!!!

These are Dawson's paintings ~ 

Obviously in this painting Dawson was expressing his view of the trees he saw.

But in this one he is expressing what he saw in a bush.  I love impressionist art!  Like I said, I wish I would have taken a photo of the bush so you could compare his eye to yours.

And here are Kyndal's paintings ~ 

Kyndal was looking through this bush onto a hill of daylilies and a tree.  Again, wish you could have seen a photograph of it.

And this was one of the flowers on that bush.  

Dawson loves to draw and draws all the time, so I knew what to expect out of him.  Kyndal, on the other hand ... well, I had no idea she had that in her.  I was so pleasantly surprised!  

While they were painting, Brynne was doing her own creating at the Gilcrease House.  She made this painting out of reusable and found objects ~ 

While the painting was drying we did shadow art with flashlights and she drew "fireworks" (her words) with washable markers and then sprayed the page so the colors would run.  She really enjoyed it!

We sat outside and had a picnic lunch and took tons of pictures outside because the grounds at Gilcrease are so beautiful!  Brynne loved the flowers all around and I cannot wait to bring them back this summer when everything is in full bloom!  Then Brynne and I went and waited for an animal balloon while Kyndal and Dawson did an art scavenger hunt in the art gallery.

We all attended one more class with Allison Lackner where we did an Encaustic Painting (which is painting on canvas with melted wax.)

The entire event was really fun and I plan to keep my eye out for more things we can do there. We received a free membership so we can go back as often as we want.

When we got home and walked in the door, Eli immediately started crying.  He was carrying on about his cheeks being red, etc.  He was so weepy and fussy.  Well, it wasn't an hour later and he was running a fever, and then another hour later and he was throwing up.  Poor guy!  Ask me how thankful I am we didn't drag him to Gilcrease all day!!  He ran a fever in the night and seems to be pretty much all better today.  He only threw up once, so that was a blessing.