A dandy afternoon (watercolors on the go with kids)

Good morning everyone! Are you refreshed and ready for the new week?  Or maybe more like me, sloshing coffee around and barely dipping a toe into the new week?  Either way, welcome.  Thank-you so much for your continued encouragement and comments on my blog posts.  I admittedly, am not very good at following up with comments on the blog and I apologize! My computer time has been a bit off….my computer has been broken for quite some time (months) where it runs very, very slow.  Even when I type the letters and words are delayed showing up on the screen.  This is eating up huge chunks of time I simply don't have (and am not willing to give) so here in the next couple of weeks I'll schedule some blog posts out and take a little break to get the computer fixed.  There is nothing that will kill my motivation faster than technology that is frustrating and slow. 

But enough of the technical stuff, let's jump to the rosy.  One afternoon I grabbed some watercolors, paper, snacks, brushes, and a Tupperware container of water and the girls and I headed out to the pasture to paint. 

 Something I long to have eyes to see myself and to share with my girls is the beauty and intricacy that surrounds us.  Once we sat down I showed the girls how you can pick so many different varieties of leaves and flowers next to you and then try to paint what you see.  

 We use a big variety of watercolors.  We have the Crayola kind, a cheap set from Hobby Lobby, and my Sakura travel set pictured here.  You can look this up on Amazon.  It cost around $26 for the set, which also includes a water brush.  A water brush is a brush that holds water inside the handle, which is big enough to hold water for a painting session or two, but small enough to easily transport.  I bought the girls their own water brushes and they will come in this week.  We are so excited to be able to easily take our painting on the go!

 The clouds were very dark and moody this day so Anna Ruth decided to paint them. 

 Watercolors are my current favorite type of paint to do with the girls, not because it's less mess but because it keeps both girls occupied so that I get to be creative with them for at least 10 minutes.  That is huge!  Usually when we create I am facilitating great conversation, grabbing supplies for them, and acting as a buffer between the girls and teaching them how to share.  Of course, I still do all that with watercolors, but I also notice there are moments of still that don't occur otherwise.  

 I let Anna Ruth use my nice Nikon and she captured this photo! Great job! I am hoping to get her a camera for her birthday….(not a Nikon obviously)

 Of course we had to end the afternoon with America's least favorite "weed" and my most favorite flower.  Yes, that's right…..I call these flowers.  Dandelions are our fave.  They make our hearts skip a beat.  They are resilient.  I mow over them and POP! They come right back.  

 We make wishes on them, twirl them in our fingers, and gather bouquets of them. 

May your week be full of wishes!

(local gals-this is the last week to sign up for my photography retreat in May! Details are under the Rosy Retreat tab above! Comment or email me at sunshinebysara@hotmail.com to sign up!)