Mademoiselle Artiste

Until recently, there was a large bare space on the wall in Ellie's room that cried out for decoration. I've had several ideas about how we might fill it creatively in a way that was very much Ellie, but we hadn't done a thing until I was inspired by this post at UNIFORM Studio. Ellie loves to paint, so this seemed the perfect solution. It was her first experience with canvas and also her first opportunity to paint something of this size. I am not a graphic designer or professional artist, so I skipped the lesson in composition and color that was part of the inspiring post. It was to be a painting for Ellie's room, so I let her choose 3 colors. I bought a variety of inexpensive brushes ranging in size from fairly small (given the canvas size) to a wide as the width of my palm. I set up the materials and let the creation process be entirely up to her. Ellie being Ellie, she opted to paint with only the smallest brushes, so a lot of white space remains.


I have to admit, I waffled for ages in the art store about that canvas. Stretched canvas is not cheap, and it felt mighty pricey for a 3 year old's project. Ultimately, I decided to go for it. I justified the price by thinking that she can add to it again later if she wants to, or at some point we can just paint over it and start again. She is so proud of the end result that I know I made the right choice.