Logan’s Newest Painting

I received a lot of interest and questions about the latest painting Logan made for our playroom. For anyone who wants to try this with their kids, here’s a breakdown of how it was done.

Materials: stretched canvas, acrylic paint, brushes, bucket of water

*NOTE: Acrylic paint does not come out of clothes so I recommend using messy clothes or having your kid paint in their underwear.

  1. Lay the canvas on the floor and let your kid pick one color. Help them pour some paint directly onto the canvas & let them go nuts.

2. Let your kid pick a second color of paint and either let them pour the paint on the canvas or ask where they want you to pour it. Let them paint with those two colors as much as they want.

3. Leave the painting to dry. Acrylic dries pretty fast so this shouldn’t take more than 30 mins (unless they really poured the paint on thick, then it might take an hour) Take this time to clean your brushes.

4. Once the first layer is dry, remind your child of where the painting is going to be and ask them what colors they would like to see up on the wall in that room. Then together, decide where the next color should go. This time, pour less paint on than you did for the first layer. Repeat with one or two more colors.

5. Let the painting dry. I know it can be hard for kids to wait, but painting outside in our yard helped with this because Logan could play on his tricycle, help me clean the brushes, water the plants or take a snack break.

We propped the painting up to dry so Logan had more room to play.

6. Once that layer is dry, pick a new color to paint with. I chose white so there would be more contrast. You can see we actually didn’t wait long enough and the white mixed with some of the other colors. Logan liked that, so we rolled with it. If at any point the whole painting turns to one muddy color don’t worry! Let it dry and paint right over it on the next layer.

7. Throughout this process whether it looked like Logan was actually listening to me or not, I just kept talking about the color combinations he was making and what colors popped out to me and what would look so cool hanging up in our playroom. I constantly had him take little water breaks to step back from the painting and look at it.

8. At one point Logan asked me to paint with him and he actually told me what to do. My contribution was the light pink dots…

9. Which he ended up painting over and then having me repaint in a different place later.

10. Repeat this process of drying and painting and stepping back and talking about the colors, the composition, the types of paint strokes. Anything you notice, talk about it! Ask if there are any colors missing, make suggestions if you want. If your child is anything like mine, they will not take a suggestion they don’t like 🙂 Keep going until your child (or both of you) decide it is ready to hang.

11. Hang it up!

Logan is so incredibly proud of his painting! We love the new colorful addition to our home. Best of luck on yours! Send me a pic if you decide to try it. Logan will be so excited to see!

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Oh Yeah, Writing…

So, we have a baby now. Before that I was pregnant. That’s the order these things usually go in, so I’d say we’re off to a good start. When I was pregnant I was really excited to have Logan and write about my experience as a mom every night after he went to bed. So he’s 9 months old now and this is my first post since he was born. Well, a lot has happened. There’s been a lot of laughter and tears (from all of us), a lot of puke and poop (also from all of us), some amazing times and some times that I’m not even sure happened because I was so tired. Everyone is sleeping better now and I feel like myself again. For a long time I wondered if I would. Having a baby is hard! Even when everything is going great and we’re all happy it is hard work. But it is work that I love and Ro loves it too and for that I know we are very lucky. I have managed to jot a few things down when and where I can- my phone, an empty Desitin box, a Target receipt. It’s mostly stuff like “Logan puked in my water bottle today and I didn’t realize it until after I drank from it. Several times.” Or “Logan has 3 teeth- 2 bottoms and a fang up top. The waitress at IHOP called it a can opener.” Or “Logan smacked himself in the chest with a remote today and stared me dead in the eye without flinching like a thug on a prison yard trying to intimidate me. It worked.” The usual stuff I guess. Then there’s a lot of “Logan is so beautiful I realized I was holding my breath while staring at him today.” And “Logan smells so good it makes me dizzy.” And “Ok today for sure I really can’t possibly ever love him more than I do right now.” I write that one a lot.

Mermaids out of Water

The pumps were broken at the public pool I usually go to, so they shut it down for the day. I drove to another pool a little farther north. I was bummed about missing the aqua aerobics class at my pool, but at least I could go for a swim. It was the hottest day of the year so far and there was no way I wasn’t getting in the water. I’m almost 6 months pregnant and my lower back has been aching a lot lately. I swam a few laps in the easy lane and then took a break to stretch. I started talking to one of the lifeguards and she told me they had a gentle water fitness class in the smaller pool starting in ten minutes. Perfect! I swam a few more laps and went over.

There were a bunch of people already in the water when I got there. As soon as I started down the stairs, a few ladies came over and introduced themselves to me and then they introduced me to everyone else in the class. They were so nice to me and had lots of questions about my pregnancy and the baby. Then the instructor came and she kicked our butts for an hour. This was not the gentle fitness class I had imagined, but it was great. I could barely keep up while the people around me were killing it. They were racing me across the pool and showing me different exercises. It was so much fun. It’s also probably the best workout I’ve had in months. Okay fine, years.

After class I was starving so I hopped out of the pool and took a quick shower. When I got out, there were a bunch of older women in the locker room. Some of them were in wheelchairs and walking with walkers. One of them called out my name and asked me how I liked the class. I stared at her for a few seconds before realizing she was one of the women who had been in the pool with me. I looked around. They all were. I couldn’t believe it. These women seemed so… old. And slow. Nothing like the women in my class. I had met them in the water, where they were fast and free and totally unburdened by whatever was going on with their bodies the rest of the time. It was sad and also not sad.

I’m going to keep going to the class. I loved it and I feel like I stumbled through a secret portal where I got to see who these women really are. Or at least who they are underwater.

 

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

Charlotte’s Shorts won the ENCORE! Producer’s Award at the 2016 Hollywood Fringe Festival, which means we will be BACK for 2 more shows on July 30th & 31st. Get your tickets HERE!

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We’ll be back soon!

TICKETS HERE!!!

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Charlotte’s Shorts will be back at the Actor’s Company for 2 ENCORE performances on July 30th & 31st!

Every Show is a Little Different

Cast lists

Here are the full cast lists for our upcoming shows in the Hollywood Fringe Festival! Tickets available here.

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What has Charlotte’s Shorts done for you?

We want to make a pilot of Charlotte’s Shorts and to do so we could really use your help! Find out how here. 

Help Us Take Charlotte’s Shorts to the NEXT LEVEL!

We are raising funds to help us cover the cost of filming our upcoming shows in the Hollywood Fringe Festival as well as our post-production costs, including editing, color correction, sound design, etc. 100% of funds raised will go toward producing a pilot of Charlotte’s Shorts. Maybe we pitch it to a network and all these incredible actors become super star gazillionaires. Or maybe we end up with a great DVD the whole family can enjoy (if your kids like sex talk and swearing.) Either way, we want to share Charlotte’s Shorts with more people and we could really use your help! Check out our campaign on Indiegogo here.

Charlotte’s Shorts in Hollywood Fringe Festival!

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Tickets go on sale May 1st @ hollywoodfringe.org

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story | TED Talk | TED.com

This is my favorite TED talk ever. I guarantee it is worth 18 minutes and 42 seconds of your time.