Hello again!
Welcome back! I hope everyone is doing well, and I hope you enjoyed my last blog. The past week the weather has been warming up and has me wishing my beach vacation would hurry and get here. So in the spirit of vacation mode, we are going to dive into an undersea themed blog!
For my painting, I made a deep sea dive scene with glow in the dark jellyfish and angler fish. The Smiling Hippo shop has several different glow-in-the-dark colors, there is orange, pink, green and clear- which is what I used on the Jellies and the Angler. The orange and pink are on the Giant Squid, with the green as a highlight on the Sub.
Now, with the glow-in-the-dark paints don’t be afraid to dig into the pans. They have a grainy texture that is harder to pick up with softer brushes, I recommend using a coarse brush and putting a thick layer down to make a bright glow. But I’m getting ahead of myself! This week’s cool trick is using salt to create a bubble effect!
Now, this is pretty simple, but it lends itself to creating a very cool texture. All you have to do is choose a color, put it on the paper and then while it’s still wet, sprinkle salt over the area. Release your inner Salt Bae! The above photo shows the texture very well.
I had a lot of fun creating this picture, the glitter paints really helped the Submarine dome pop and take on a glassy look. The salt really emulated bubbles, and let’s not forget the star of the show– glow paints!! These pans are easy to “charge”, like with any glowy thing, they just need to sit in the light for a while. I tested these out to see how long they glow for and it ran about 4 hours before the glow started to fade. I imagine it depends on how thick the layer is and how long the paint has sat in light. I’m incredibly impressed!
KIDS CORNER
This week I had my Little Artist create a Coral Reef! I let her loose with my whole Smiling Hippo collection and she had a blast! On some watercolor paper I drew fish, sharks, coral, and seaweed for her to fill in. After everything dried, I drew the outlines of the critters, cut them out, and taped them to some sticks to make a display with! She loves playing with the “Shish”. What a lovely addition to the kitchen table centerpiece! It’s great to watch the little ones discover how to use their art tools. At first, my little one was hesitant to dip the brush in water, she really wanted to just splash in the cup with her hands. Once I showed her how to dip the brush she took off and created her own masterpiece!
She was very careful about her paint placement. It seems like she planned every drop and stroke. Later on she went in with a finger painting style with the bright blue. That’s why we always wear old, stained clothes for arts and crafts!
As a mom who has a need for everything to be tidy and in its place, there is sometimes an internal struggle with keeping clean and letting her explore through making a mess.
Thank you for checking out my blog– be sure to take a peek at the store while you're on the site! I can’t wait to see what everyone creates with these wonderful paints. You’ll cherish the memories and the art.
Until next time!!
-Meg <3