Inside the Spin-Mosaic Studio

People have their one thing--that one thing, topic, or activity that just lights them up, that they love doing, that they would rather do and spend time on than anything else in the world.

When my girls were little, my sweet mom was named, "Grandma-Who-Makes-Cookies". My kids know I am all about Art. Brother is all about basketball. Sister loves Spanish. Cousin Justin LOVES his tractors. Cousin Justin is my cousin--Momma's cousin. He's a big guy. When he comes to visit, he tells great stories. He has a lot of great stories about tractors. Here is his prize. It has a great story.

"Rejoice with those who rejoice." --Romans 12:15

"Dad bought this 1957 Farmall 230 in the early '70's to use on the farm in Gladwin, Michigan. Over the years, we have created a lot of memories with this tractor. It was the 1st tractor I learned to drive on when I was 6 years old; used it to plant sweet corn with my Grandpa, driven it over the Mackinac (Island) Bridge Fall Tractor Crossing event, and worked on it with Dad.

In the spring of 2019, Dad and I decided to retire and restore it. Now it's just used for tractor rides, parades, and tractor shows. We may rake hay with it once in a while just to see it shine doing what it once did."  -- Cousin Justin

This activity is dedicated to the art of celebrating and stepping into the loves and the lives of others around us. Choose a person. Think about what they love. Choose any paper, paint, marker, watercolors, colored pencils, crayons...whatever you want to use for today. Then gift that work of art. Take a photo. Send it to them online?

A common mantra of creating art is to "express ourselves". Right? What about expressing others?

When I spoke at a Women's Creativity Conference a few years back, a lovely sister of a friend had saved and saved to buy a new piano. After it arrived, a friend knocked on the door with a basket swinging in her arms containing paper towel and a yellow can of Pledge...so her musical friend could dust it and keep the piano shiny. See, it's such a simple thing. But, that friend reached out and into her joy through creativity. Love it!

Let someone else's love be your inspiration for today. I guarantee, your gift of art will turn around and become the inspiration for their day. Especially during a time like NOW when we all need to practice creative ways to connect with each other!

Here is the painting that my son, Brandon (8)

did in celebration of Cousin Justin's tractor.

Here's my version:

Here's what we used to make our "glass paints": farm-fresh eggs (photo courtesy of my friend, Janelle's, love of chickens). My relatives in Michigan call them "cackleberries". (Hens cackle...get it?!)

It was the greatest but yuckiest project ever! When I showed Brandon how we were going to make home-made "glass-paint" and with what...his face scrunched up, "No WAY! I'm not doing that. That is sooooo yucky!" By the end of the project, he was almost shouting, "That was the BEST ever. Let's do it again!"

Tomorrow's post will show picture-by-picture how we made our special paint. It will take a few unique supplies: empty cereal box, food coloring, small plastic cups (we used plastic egg carton), paint brushes, black marker.  Have them ready by tomorrow!

Notice in the picture below how the paint shines in the light. The artwork was DRY, not WET. This is really cool stuff. Get ready to get creative! It's super fun.

For today, think about special people in your life that you love, and then think about what they love. Create art about that. Share it with them! Take a photo. Send it online?

Brandon and I are about to copy and paste this blog link and send it to Cousin Justin. Our goal is to add one smile to his day. Maybe that one smile will be contagious. In light of NOW, lets not forget that smiles are still the most contagious bug on the planet!

--Mrs. Z!

*To view a previous article about how to talk to your kids about the corona virus, see http://www.christiziebarth.com/blog/153875/growing-your-creative-child-lemonade-kisses-corona-and-bandaides