Jo, my youngest daughter, lost interest in painting early this year. As a result, I also held back on giving her painting projects for a time. Remember a couple of years back when the girls and I did various painting projects almost weekly? We stopped doing that almost completely as I let them explore their other interests, like Roblox and make up. But recently, when Jo learned her cousins have been taking up acrylic painting, she told me she also wanted to try.
We checked out YouTube for some acrylic painting tutorials (there are tons!) and I let her pick the designs she wanted to work on. I knew that if she liked the subject of the piece then she would also be more committed to the process, so involving her in the curation of the lessons was also important.
Twice a week, she sits down to paint along a videos while I’m by her side, guiding her as needed. She has been doing these painting sessions for almost a month now and, so far, I’m happy to find her sticking to it! Even when it gets a little too tedious, I noticed that nudging her to keep to it or encouraging her to put in just a bit more effort works.
Jo tends to rush into her art making and was never really a fan of coloring in her work in the past, but these painting exercises have been pushing her to be more patient with the medium, pay closer attention to detail and handle the brush with a little more finesse.
She’s only seven as I write this, turning eight in a few more weeks actually. I don’t think her current love for painting is indicative of her future career haha. I’m just happy she is enjoying it and that she is also learning to work hard on something she currently likes. I see that she finds delight and satisfaction in completing every piece and I truly love that for her.
Jo and I would love to share our compilation of YouTube painting tutorials with you. We’ll be adding more in the coming weeks and you’re most welcome to check out it out if you also feel like painting along! LINK TO: Jo’s Painting Playlist
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