This week would have been my Aunt Kay’s birthday, which made it a bit difficult for me since she passed away last year (she lived with me while I was growing up and was like a second mom). She was a bright, joyful person who loved to paint and draw—it was even her college minor—so I decided to honor her with a little watercolor session with Clara.
I know every parent says this, but my kid is an artist. Somebody get this girl a beret.
The watercolor set was an impulse buy from Target—I couldn’t resist all the cheerful, bright colors. I made a few simple, boxy paintings while watching Clara create, mostly grinning at her bold choices.
My absolute favorite of Clara’s paintings is this one. Aren’t those colors lovely? I’m definitely her biggest fan.
She also painted on a smaller piece of watercolor paper I gave her. She worked on it sideways, but when we turned it upright it reminded us of a pink sunset reflecting on water. Do you see it?
One small painting made me smile because a little red dot looked like a heart. It was probably an accidental mark, but I liked imagining she felt the love while we painted and talked about Great Aunt Kay.
Here’s a close-up of the boxy painting I made, inspired by a colorful shirt I saw on Instagram. I painted a few messy boxes in whatever colors caught my eye and then cropped the image for a clean composition.
I thought it would be fun to hang a pair of these together, so I made a second print to go alongside the first.
I can’t decide whether I prefer them displayed vertically or horizontally. We’ll see how they look once they make it onto the walls.
Finally, here’s one more I made, a playful abstract that echoes Clara’s first painting—though she still wins the paint-off. Headline: Three-year-old trumps mom in paint-off; mom couldn’t be happier.
I’ve made the paintings above available as downloadable 8 x 10″ printables. Click any image to open a larger version you can save by right-clicking or dragging to your desktop, depending on your device. They brightened a tough week for me, so I wanted to share them. I also plan to make an annual donation to the MS Society in Aunt Kay’s memory, and if you’d like to join me you can donate in her honor.