I have this ‘pretend’ friend called Jeanette who writes at Craftwhack blog and has written a rather fabulous book called ‘Tangle Art and Drawing Games for Kids‘ which I got to play with and now I am going to tell you about!

 

I have met lots of ‘pretend’ friends – you know the ones you meet on the inter webs but not yet in real life (no, I don’t say IRL, I am not a young person).  They are all talented and amazing and when they write a book, I want to see it!

This book was no disappointment, in fact it was an inspiration from page to page.  So many great ideas and not just for kids in my opinion, I saw lots of stuff I wanted to incorporate into my art journal. So I did.

The Geometry tree (#1) caught my eye and I could not stop smiling at the tangled hair project (#45), so I thought I would give them a go.  At first I decided to concentrate on the crazy hair, but as happens every time I work in my art journal, it had different ideas.  I ended up with trees and tangle hair on the same page and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

For the trees and hair, I used a black jelly roll pen and a Sharpie paint pen for the white accents.  Hands up who wants that hair!  Me me me! Only for a special occasion which invites cats of course.

As I was looking through Tangle Art and Drawing Games for Kids, I thought we needed to know some more about the author of the book, so I posed some probing and pertinent questions to Ms Nyberg and got these answers:

Clare: What is your favorite colour?    

Jeanette: Grey! I love grey in all the shades. Although I love different beautiful shades of blue together, but if I had to just choose one color solo, it would be grey.

C: Who is your favorite painter?  

J: This question sends me into a panic every time, because I don’t have a favorite painter. A painting teacher in college once asked me who my favorite painter was, and I blurted out, “Matisse!”, because he came to mind first. I love that crazy old Mark Rothko a whole lot, and also Daniella Woolf’s gorgeous encaustics, oh! And also Mitra Walter.

C: What is your favorite shape?

J: Would you consider a stripe a shape? I suppose that’s more of a pattern, so I’ll say the humble rectangle. No! Wait! A star! See how I change my mind at lightning speed? It’s a real problem.

C:Best song to sing along to?

J:Toss up between “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”, and probably still “We Are Young” by Fun.

C: Yummiest food?  

J: Turkey burgers! They rock my little world.

C: What magazines do you read?

J: I don’t have any subscriptions anymore, but I’ll occasionally flip through a Martha Stewart, pretty much any home design magazine, and sometimes I like to make myself feel like crap by getting a women’s health magazine.

C:Which is your most favorite art supply?    

J: Acrylic paint. I love that stuff so much.

C: Coffee or tea?

J: Green tea! Specifically, iced, lightly sweetened.

C: Favourite project from your book for kids?

J: I love to see what kids come up with when they try the Weirdo Animals game (#20). It’s so fun to see their morphed animal drawings.

C: For adults?

J: For adults, my favorite game is the synchronized drawing game (#12), because you can either be nice and draw slowly, or be wicked and draw quickly, because one person has to try to keep up with the other. It’s pretty hilarious.

So I think we all need to paint grey stripes while singing to ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina’ and eating turkey burgers!

I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to doodle in the margins, art journal, make cards, design coloring sheets or just wants a few minutes quiet for themselves, their kids or both.  I found drawing the trees very meditative and they are so cool!

Thanks to Jeanette for allowing me to keep a copy of your wonderful book (all opinions on the book are mine, I was not bribed or blackmailed) and for answering my silly questions!

Let’s grab some paper and a pen and draw!

Happy Wednesday x