So I have been having a massive spring clean – not that anyone would notice, just think: teeny, tiny incremental steps!!! And in my tossing, sifting, sorting I discovered the clipboards. The clipboards that I bought for school – oh about two years ago!!! I thought they would be fun for our rambling art excursions. Not to mention my kids love clipboards – who doesn’t!!! Somehow work on a clipboard feels so important!!! I have to say part of why I put them away and forgot about them was because they were so dull and well uniform imagine a gang of eight all shouting “mine” at once!!! I was trying to think of something fun to do with them and make them unique… I needn’t have wasted my brain power, kids are always full of ideas!!!
Everyone was given their clipboard and the pack of nice new acrylic paints, that we all love so much, was passed around…
There is a little trick to painting with acrylics and small children. If you let them lose with your new paints they might quite quickly look like the “end of the month toothpaste tube,” so we squirt a dab of colour onto scrap paper and a different brush for each colour to keep the colours nice and crisp and distinct. The paint is lovely and creamy to work with. Acrylics take longer to dry than our regular watercolour paints but usually overnight is time enough, even for the most industrious artists.
And another tip, acrylic paints are built to last, so if you are fussy about artistic clothing then have your kids wear old clothes – I’m not, I believe artistic gear shows character!!! The reason I am sharing this is that when the paint is dry it is hard to shift, so as soon as you are finished painting wash your brushes in cold water, otherwise the paint will stick to you brushes for life!!!
A Gallery of Colourful Clipboards
My only regret is I didn’t get one for me… I am sure I would have important work to pop onto a clipboard and I know I would love to paint one!!!
And if you are looking for some truly stunning Clipboard inspiration then look no further than our friends on the far side of the world: Alisa Burke posted her Fabulous Painted Clip Boards Yesterday, take a look you will love them!!!
Hi Se7en,
I love these!
When my daughter was little, I bought two clipboards for us to use when we felt like flopping on the the sofa to do school.
Well, she refused to “pinch her paper” under the clip, because she thought it would hurt the poor paper! So she flipped the board over and just laid her paper on the backside to work!
(Just between you and me…she still feels the same way about it-only now she’s 13 years old!) Tee hee!
Totally brilliant!
What fun! Keep those arty crafty posts coming! just love them. Very inspiring!
I like the advice on using acrylics.
Just nominating you for the Best Homeschool Methods Blog for the HSBA 2013.
Oh tcmullinax, I had to smile at your comment!!! I have one exactly like that and now that there is a picture on their clipboard it is even worse!!! Aren’t these kids just so different and special!!! Hope you have had the most fabulous week!!!
Hay Corli!!! Glad you liked them!!! We really enjoyed discovering these and painting them!!! Everyone did completely their own thing and all their own little themes shine through!!! I love them too!!! Hope you had a good week, we have had three warm days in a row and we are filled with hope that we have seen the last of winter!!! Wishing you all the best weekend, lots of love from Cape Town!!!
Hay Tammy, Glad you liked them… you would be surprised at the very reasonable price of clipboards, I had to grab an extra one for our littlest guy and they haven’t changed price in two years. Hope you have the most fabulous weekend, nearly there!!!
Glad you liked it Sarah!!! We always have fabulous results with acrylics, they are just so bright and fun to work with!!! And thank you for the nomination, I think I may just hide under the table, you are way too kind!!! Hope you have the most wonderful weekend!!!
I’ve never thought of painting a clipboard! What a great idea! I saw an article on decorating matchboxes yesterday and thought of you straight away! It’s in the Septemer issue of Living and Loving in case you want to have a peep (the only magazine the hairdresser had for me to look at!)
Hay Sue, So very very good to hear from you!!! I’ll take a peek next time I am the magazine counter!!! I hope you are all very well and surviving that last term of school!!! Cape Town is finally warming up, for a moment there we thought we might not get summer this year!!! Have a fabulous weekend!!!
i like clipboards!
Love it, what a fun project! Great to see you again on craft schooling Sunday!
Hay Sara, So good to hear from you and it’s always lovely to join Craft Schooling Sunday!!! Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have had a good week!!!