So this weekend was a painting festival with my daughter-she loves her new Melissa and Doug paint brushes and the tempura paints wash off so easily! Our fridge has never been so colorfully decorated with her creations!
I couldn't resist...so I took a piece of trace paper, and drew one continuous line (an art project my mom taught me) and painted in the shapes with different colors. I showed her how the colors mixed make other colors and the amount of water on the brush can also lighten or darken the paint. This was the first time she saw "coloring within the lines" Who knows if she really retained the information, she is only two. But then after this dried, I showed her how the colors glow when put up in a window. She liked that!
This morning I looked at my painting in her window as I got her ready for daycare, and was reminded of a very inspiring and monumental figure in landscape architecture, Roberto Burle Marx (Brazilian Landscape artist/Architect born-died 1909-1994). His garden designs were often first drawn/represented in an abstract painting. Also ahead of his time, he encouraged the use of native tropical plants and used them in modern planting schemes such as within large color blocks. Some critics believe, though, his curvilinear lines and color massing did not take into account the curvature of the land, and therefore believe he designed best for flat open spaces and rooftop gardens. He is best known for the design of the promenade at the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janiro.
From this article and for more information: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/arts/design/21burl.html
Landscape design, he [Roberto Burle Marx] once wrote, “was merely the method I found to organize and compose my drawing and painting, using less conventional materials.”
