Creative play - a present for nonna Lucy

Santino loves painting, holding a paint brush and mixing the colors. Well, for now he mixes all the colors together, until they turn brown, and then he paints careful stripes here and there, swooshes, calling them dinosaurs and fire trucks.
 

I wanted to channel his love for painting and help him make a present for nonna Lucy for her birthday.


I got a painters tape, using it to mask the picture. I taped a few strips in the middle of a water color paper sheet. I then drew a flower over the tape with a pencil. Then, using a sharp x-acto knife, i cut off the tape, leaving only the shape. It is possible to do, just need to be careful and don't rush.

Then I mixed up some water colors for Santino. To avoid him mixing up all colors into one brown, I gave him colors one by one, blue, then yellow, then red. The colors mixed beautifully on the paper.

Then I let the picture dry, and carefully removed the tape. It stuck a bit too much to the paper, but I removed it slowly. Next time I would have to use a real masking tape. After the tape was removed, the white flower shape was revealed. Looked very warm and tender.

I signed it "2012, From Santino, To Nonna Lucy" and put it inside a simple frame. Nonna liked her present.