The Sunflower House
This painting highlights the love of a mother for her children. It was inspired by my children. Sunflower houses were anticipated with great joy at my house. In the spring, we would plant seeds for 12 foot tall sunflowers in a rectangle, leaving space for a door. To keep the weeds out we would put down weed barrier and cut a hole for the seed to go in. It would also make a cleaner sunflower house. After a week or two the seedlings would appear with shells still dangling. Eventually these drop off and two leaves appear. In the fall they reach full height with beautiful blooms. The blooms have a curious habit of turning to face the sun as it travels across the horizon. The blooms would lean in a little to make a roof for the house. Cover the floor with a blanket and let the creativity begin!
Inspire Creativity
I am a great proponent of children developing their creativity. Too often we sit them down in front of a DVD or video game to keep them busy so we can get things done. This dulls their sense of inspiration, stifles their creativity, and most of all develops a very short attention span! It results in a need for them to be constantly entertained or they become depressed and irritated. I suppose I was a mean mom in some peoples eyes because I severely limited their screen time. This was back in the 90s and early 2000s so the dangers of screen time were not well known. To inspire them I would save a bunch of large boxes, get out a lot of old sheets and blankets, and let them take all of cushions off of the couches and get them started on building a fort. One time I showed them how to turn the boxes into a train and built a cool looking engine with several box cars.
One birthday my son wanted to build tanks and have a water gun fight. We collected boxes from stores. The boys built the tanks on top of two wagons. We made a tee pee from an old sheet, let the kids decorate it with permanent markers, and wrapped it around some bean poles from the garden. The kids had fun making drums, bows and arrows, and Indian wardrobes. We had a sand box and I got them started building roads and towns and bridges with sticks and bark.
When they were older they would build armor, shields, and swords from cardboard, duct tape, and foam. They would have parties with playful competitions. They built foam dart guns with 1/2 inch PVC pipe. And as teenagers would have blow gun wars in the basement with lots of friends, setting up hiding places with boxes and sheets hung from the ceiling.
Share the Joy
Tell someone how thankful you are to know them by sending a personalized watercolor eCard. Click “Create a Card” to create a custom greeting card from our selection of unique watercolor paintings. For more info on how to get started watch the how to video.
