Inspiration

My youngest child, the third son, is in some ways woefully neglected. I used to do super crafty things with the oldest two on a regular basis (or at least it seemed that way). Number 3 hasn't had nearly as much crafty fun, mostly due to the fact that I have less time to supervise messy things like painting.

While the older two were at soccer camp, my youngest finally got to run wild with the Tempera paints. The truly remarkable thing to me was his complete lack of inhibition in mixing the paints.

He methodically dipped the brush in each paint pot down the line.

He used several brushes at once.

He mixed paint by holding two brushes with the bristles together and rubbing them together!

It was a beautiful thing.

And it reminded me that my children were the source of inspiration for several quilts, including Grotto , Aqua Leaves and New Growth. I hadn't used Tempera paint much, but they came home from preschool with new "works" in Tempera nearly every session. I was fascinated by the way the colors blended, or sometimes didn't blend, and the texture and lines created by the paint.

Each of the quilts I mentioned above began with a fragment of a tempera "painting", scanned in to the computer and manipulated.

It just goes to show that you never know where you'll find inspiration.

I wish you all an inspirational day!