Two-year painting

I visited a friend's home this past weekend and noticed a couple of beautiful pieces of art in the living room- she informed me they were painted by her daughter at age two and three. What a great idea and wonderful way to commemorate the passing of a year. Kieran hasn't been too terribly interested in coloring or painting so far- but we hold out hope that a love for art will grow in our transportation obsessed toddler. We have offered Kieran crayons and markers and a variety of coloring pages- mostly with trains- of course. And although he has worked a little here and there on these "art projects" he hasn't seemed terribly enthused. After having seen my friend's child's art though, I thought I would give it another try- I really want to have a keepsake piece of art from Kieran.
In thinking about the color of our soon-to-be new living room wall, a dark chocolate, I thought a vibrant green would really pop. I bought two pre-fab canvases and prepped them with a warm yellow green background. I brought Kieran to school with me today, set out a few different color acrylic paints, handed him a brush and stepped back...

 Artist at work and in motion...

 Stepping back to survey the work so far...

 Using his left hand... although he started out with his right hand!

 Trying out a different tool- his hands!

 Blending colors- by hand ;)

 Lifting some color and adding texture with a paper towel

 "Eeewwws!" This is a new phrase of Kieran's... too cute! Whenever his hands are dirty now, he holds them up to me so that I can clean them off but if I'm not available right at that moment, his shirt works too!

 Kieran working on his second painting- going for warmer, lighter colors in this one.

The final two works of art... It think they will look awesome over the fireplace on that chocolate wall- don't you?!

Mid February 2011

 I absolutely love this look- he seems grown up in a way in this photo...

 Here Kieran has wedged himself into a toy tote and Rick is sliding him around the floor as KP picks up and collects Dora toys.

 There's my little boy- such a sweet little face

 Cousin Presley slept over this past weekend. She and Kieran play more and more together these days. You can tell Kieran likes her, he lets her play with his trains- for a little while anyway ;)

 Kieran got a hold of the camera and these next few shots are the results- his first photographs!

 Daddy from Kieran's angle...

 Mommy's hand

Owl hasn't been any in the photos in a long time. Kieran sleeps with owl- although mostly they just share the crib. On this occasion, Kieran decided owl needed to get out and take a ride.