Turns Out... Reading to Kids Is like Kid Xanax Without Side Effects

A mother reads a children’s book to her child

 When I was 17, I worked as a daycare teacher for the four-year old’s class. There were 22 of them.  Between potty accidents, Suzy cutting her own hair with plastic scissors (like HOW right?!) and little James continuously putting mole crickets in my back pocket, well, I think I still have some PTSD from it.

However, at 2:00 each day those little monsters turned into little miracles of life because…it was story time. They sat still like little angels and their eyes were wide with excitement. They also chose the same book every day- The Rainbow Fish. It had sparkly fish on it, and they liked to recite the words with me. Same. Book. Every. Day.

Well-Traveled Positive Pathways Lead to Happier Dispositions

Reading to children puts them on the path to genius

Fast forward to a week ago. I had a mindfulness podcast on while I painted, and a self-help expert said that he listened to Mathew McConaughey’s Oscar speech every day for three months until it rewired his brain.

I had an epiphany. Kids like to be read the same book over and over because- whatever message that book is teaching them- their brain is storing that information and marking it as important. They feel comfortable with it and feel a part of something exciting.

We’ve all heard about the elasticity of the brain and how repetition, whether positive or negative, turns neural trails into highspeed highways. Like mantras. Like the guru and Mathew M.

Fascinatingly, reading to children does more than reinforce positive ideas, it does some amazing things to their emotional and psychological selves.

Here’s a quote from a New York Times article titled Reading Aloud to Young Children Has Benefits for Behavior and Attention:

A new study provides evidence of just how sustained an impact reading and playing with young children can have, shaping their social and emotional development in ways that go far beyond helping them learn language and early literacy skills. The parent-child-book moment even has the potential to help curb problem behaviors like aggression, hyperactivity and difficulty with attention, a new study has found.

Here's another one from The Washington Post:

We spoke with Liza Baker, the executive editorial director at Scholastic, which just released its Kids & Family Reading Report.  “It’s so important to start reading from Day One,” she says. “The sound of your voice, the lyrical quality of the younger [books] are poetic … It’s magical, even at 8 weeks old they focus momentarily, they’re closer to your heart.” As they begin to grow, families should make sure books are available everywhere in the home, like it’s your “daily bread.” According to this report “There’s been a drop in parents continuing to read aloud after age 5.”

A book is a powerful asset to a child’s happiness

Wow!

 I read those articles and I thought back to the cherished memories I have of my parents and friends reading to me. I remember the warm glow and how safe and loved I felt. I’m grateful that the adults in my life took the time to read to me. And now that I have written my own book, which teaches courage in a whimsy way, I hope that it can be a little bit of glue in the family bond and a sunny trail through a child’s neural network.

Wanna hear the story of my story? Check out reviews and all the details about my giraffe book here.

My first crossword :-)

Besides everything art, another passion I have is crosswords. I try and do a few NY Times crosswords a week using their app. It’s been a bucket list item for me to create my own crossword and with the extra rona time I finally did it! It also has a hidden theme which I’ve been thinking about for years!

Feel free to download and print it and let me know what you think. You might have to google a few things but a good rule that I learned from Grandma Martha is “you are allowed to look up three answers only”. If you get stuck send me an email at [email protected] and I’ll give you a tip.

Have fun!

Andi

My acrylic pouring method

My Easy Peasy Acrylic Pour Method

Learn how to create a template on one plastic cup so that you can easily duplicate it over and over! No need to weigh anything or feel like its a science project (unless you like science projects then I can’t help you haha).

Ingredient List:

• Floetrol

• 3 in 1 motor oil (liquid silicone)

• Clear plastic cups (8 per person)

• Clear plastic shot cup (1 per person)

• Permanent marker

• Painters tape

• 4 or more acrylic craft paint bottles

• 11x14 canvas (or whatever surface you choose)

• Painters pan or a sturdy box with a puppy pad inside to catch overflow paint

• Gloves

• Water

• Mixing sticks (popsicle sticks)

Once its dried (24 hours) coat with poly or another gloss. You can buy water based polyurethane spray at hardware stores :-)

Recipe:

2 parts Floetrol

1 part paint

1 part water

5-10 drops motor oil

Why Criticism is GOOD for Your ART

Why Criticism is Good for Your Art

yes. you read that correctly

It’s difficult to even spell criticism much less take it! Our natural inclination is that we don’t love it …it can be emotionally painful to hear negative things about your work. As artists, we generally pour our hearts into our creations and so it can feel so personal when someone criticizes your art baby!

After almost 10 years of selling art professionally I learned an invaluable lesson- criticism is an incredibly powerful asset if you learn how to process it.

Here are two experiences I’ve had that taught me this lesson.  

I quit I quit I quit

In my first year of trying to sell my art I brought a piece to a restaurant to see if they’d hang it to sell. I was in this hot air balloon phase and I really did put a lot of time and effort into my pieces because I loved how free and peaceful hot air balloons seemed to be.

Well, it turned out that there was an Italian painter working on a mural at this place I was bringing my art. He saw my art and said:

“NO NO NO dis is all wrong! Dis looks like art of a children! So messy! You need practice! Practice! PRACTICE! Da people…dey see dis and you make reputation for yourself!”

I was devastated! Didn’t he recognize I had a specific style? Couldn’t he see this was my heart on a canvas? I went home and cried and for the first time of many, I considered just giving up painting.

But I didn’t.

I picked myself up and probably out of spite at first, I was determined to show him and others that I could do better. I could grow and learn and yes…practice.

Nobody told her ☹

Now fast forward a few years after the ‘mean Italian painter’. I had worked really hard (and in my garage nonetheless) to improve my techniques and had received some nice accolades.

At that time I happened to meet a woman who said she, too was an artist. I hadn’t seen any of her work yet, but she mentioned that her style was realism and her favorite subject was closeups of flowers. She told me her husband had got her art classes and that he said she had so much talent and she was a wonderful artist.

She then offered to show me a piece she had with her and said:

“now don’t feel bad when you see this- I’m just naturally a very good artist”

She takes this painting out of a trunk and I almost fell over… it was a blurry, splotchy mess of orange and mauve and I could not even tell it was supposed to be a flower!

It hit me in that moment that nobody had told her (or she ignored those that did).

Her teachers and her husband probably just patronized her for years.

I was suddenly grateful to that old Italian painter and to all the other gallery owners over the years who had given me criticism because           I         had        grown.

Now when I post/exhibit a new piece, I love honest feedback from people. I ASK for it. I want to know why they like it or don’t and all their thoughts. I recognize that some of it is just opinions, but I welcome that too. Listen now…sort later.

The bottom line is you can separate your emotions from your craft. You can sift through all the feedback and get a new perspective beyond your two eyes. You can grow. You can be better not bitter.

And if the criticism is coming from an expert in your field-

they are giving you GOLD.

Five tips on how to accept criticism:

1.     View the criticism as a rare opportunity to see your work through a perspective you can’t give yourself.

2.     Let go of your ego- all of us can improve in something and that’s a fundamental truth. It’s ok to fail!

3.     This could be the turning point where you turn stagnation into growth.

4.     Learn the difference between Judgment – the labeling of your work as “bad”- and real Criticism.

5.      Accept it graciously and ask for details ESPECIALLY when its from an expert in your arena.

I'm starting a blog! Finally!

I thought it might be nice to share what I’ve learned over the years…let you guys get to know me a little more and share stories of what its like being an artist.

Topics will include art techniques, family art project ideas, art history, my art mishaps and what’s happening in the art world with some of my favorite artists or museums out there!