The idea behind a Family Masterpiece is that it’s one piece of art created by all the family members, that can then be divided up afterwards so every member has a piece of the puzzle… it’s very similar to the principals of families in real life, you all may live in different continents, maybe towns but no matter how far from each other you always keep family in your heart…! This could easy be made into a friendship masterpiece or even a school teachers gift (each child gets a piece as well as the teacher) the possibilities are endless..
The starting point is to choose an artist or something that inspires you.. a colour, a shape anything that grabs you… I choose Jackson Pollock.. I love his free flowing art and how every piece is so unique… and for people who are nervous to try anything arty this is perfect cause there is no right or wrong way to splatter paint..
Step 1: Planning
•You need a canvas for each member that will receive a piece at the end. I worked with 8X10cm it was perfect as with smaller kids to paint every canvas was tiring..I placed a small note at the back of each canvas as a memory of the day..
• Paint: I used Dala liquid tempera… its non toxic and safe to use with kids..
• Brushes: have different sized brushes for the splattering of the paint so it gives different effects.
•Bowls: you need bowls to pour paint in
• A bowl for washing hands and feet: it gets pretty messing so this is a definite must have..! I added face towels to help with paint removal…
•Towels to dry up after washing
Step 2: Colour the Base
I didn’t want the painting to have so much white spaces on it, so to start off the canvases I let the children finger paint, toe paint the base.. the older children used paint brushes to fill the space… every child painted on every canvas.. even if it was just a toe mark.. that way every canvas had a piece of everyone on it.. this part is important.. let them do what they want to do, resist the urge to control where you want the paint to be let go and just let them paint… rotate the canvas if you feel it’s too much of the same colour on one side but allow their movements to be spontaneous.. and if they don’t like to use their hands, try feet or using brushes…
What I found worked well was that we did each kid individually and the paint dried in between before the next kid painted… this gave the painting different dimensions instead of smooshing into one colour (which is usually brown ???)
Below is the stages of how the base of the painting evolved…
Step 3:The Splatter
This gets pretty messy so I recommend doing it outside like on the grass, where you don’t mind it getting messy and don’t have that much to clean up afterwards..
Pour the colours you want for the splatter into bowls, add a little bit of water to make the paint a little more runny and easier to flick.. see above for how I set it up on the grass ready to splatter…
Next step is to let go of any inhibitions and just flick the paint and let loose.. both the adults and kids did this and it worked perfectly cause the way the paint falls from different heights gives different effect…
The result is perfectly imperfect art..!!
Each piece unique and special… more than the piece of art, its the memory we shared as a family making it, the laughs, the drinks, the food… that all adds to making it truly a “Family Masterpiece”..
Love
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