Beautiful Oops Moments Everywhere by Barney Saltzberg

This post may contain affiliate links.

Guest post written by author and illustrator, Barney Saltzberg whose newest book is Beautiful Oops.

Beautiful Oops was inspired by teachers to whom I’ve show how I write and illustrate picture books.  Two of the images I show how I turned mistakes into artwork.  One is the cover of my sketchbook.  I spilled coffee on it and decided the shape looked like a monster.  The other is from an old book of mine, The Flying Garbanzos.  A dog climbed up on to my desk and walked across the paper, leaving paw prints that I couldn’t erase.  Rather than starting over, I painted clouds over each paw print.  Teachers requested that I write a book, teaching that concept.  One day, I was sitting in my studio and tore a piece of paper in half.  I decided it looked like an alligator’s mouth.  That was the beginning of Beautiful Oops.

Honestly, an ‘oops’ is in the ‘moment’…It’s a creative solution to a happening. 

Beautiful Oops

 

Oops Simulated Ideas: (not the result of an actual oops but still creative) from my sister, a former kindergarten teacher.

Glue Ooze:

1.    Take some white glue and to pour it on to a piece of cardboard or a paper or plastic plate and let the glue just ooze where it wants to.

2.    Use bags of confetti with foil paper or regular tissue paper to put on the glue. Give it a face when it dries or put arms and legs on it and add a head with a soft fabric pom-pom (also found in bags at a craft store.)

3.    I like tissue paper over glue too….you can layer it and get neat color combinations, then add arms and legs and a head.

4.    If glue is too messy, a bit of paint can be blown with a straw and altered after it dries.

It’s a neat opportunity for kids to see the shape as something else.  It doesn’t have to end up with arms and legs.  It could be a face or a monster or a car or even a state.  Every choice is perfect!

Dancing Squiggles:Beautiful Oops

1.    Take a large piece of paper and give someone two crayons. (one in each hand)

2.    Put on some fun music and have the person move their arms around on the paper as if they are dancing to the music.

3.    At some point, have them stop.

4.    Take other colors and have them color inside the squiggles.  Fish, eyes, faces appear.

5.    The trick is, not to be judgmental.  There is no wrong answer when it comes to art.  Trees can be purple or square.  This is a ‘freeing’ act, not a lesson.

Looking at the book Beautiful Oops,

  • I’ve torn paper and played with the shape.
  • The same goes for newspaper ripping, just randomly rip it and turn it around and around until something appears.
  • I used acrylic paint, which dries really quickly for the smudges and smears. This can get kind of messy, so you can put some paint on a piece of paper and smash it onto another piece of paper.  Once it dries, dress it up as you see fit.  Pens, pencils, glue, fabric.  Anything goes.

Keep in mind, a true ‘oops’ is helping a kid see something clever or of satisfaction when what they were doing isn’t what they had in mind. It’s taking that moment and looking beyond at the possibilities. Wow, what can I do with that drip or that thumb print?

It’s really an important skill for kids to learn because it helps them deal with the frustration of not being able to make (draw, paint, cut) what they want. All of this takes some finessing on the part of the adult.

A wonderful bi-product of taking the sting out of an oops, is a bitof a life lesson — anything can be fixed if you don’t give up.  It’s also a good reminder to play!  (Something we forget about doing in this busy life of ours!)

Bio: Barney Saltzberg is the author of more than 30 books for children, including Good Egg and the bestselling Touch and Feel Kisses series, with over 800,000 copies in print. Additionally, he’s recorded four albums of songs for children. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, two dogs, and a pond full of fish.

Melissa’s Note: Isn’t this amazing? Barney, thank you so much for giving the world this book, and for guest blogging on Imagination Soup. (WOW!)

Listen, watch and read along with Barney as he shares Beautiful Oops.

I’m so inspired, how about you?

When have you had a beautiful oops?

To whom do you want to give this book?

All comments will be entered to win a copy of Beautiful Oops until October 21, 2010.

Beautiful Oops is a book for all ages so don’t be fooled by it’s board book look.  We must all learn to see the possibilities in our oopses; this book  shows us how in three-dimensions the possibilities with ripped paper, holes, smudges and flaps. Gorgeously rendered and inspired. I love it!   **See other children’s book reviews around the web at The Fall Festival For Books.

RECENT POSTS:

8 Reading and Writing Ideas to Try With Your Kids

5 Fun Word Activities

Nursery Rhymes for Kids

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

23 Comments

  1. I love all of your thoughtful comments, thank you! Honestly, this book has been life changing / perspective changing for us – and my kids are now celebrating the oops, almost looking for them so they can turn them into something beautiful.

    Thanks again for this post, Barney!

    Congratulations to Laurie, you’ve won A Beautiful Oops!

  2. I love this idea! What a great book! I was in art for four years in high school and just about all my pieces made it in to the art show. It was something I just “did” and not until my mother pointed out that not everyone’s artwork gets in the show did I realize it’s a gift I need to appreciate. The biggest and best “oops” project I made was for my best friend. I had tons of pictures of us, many with “out takes” you’d never put in a photo album. I thought it’d be funny to cut one out and put it in a postcard I had on my desk. And there was my friend, really funny expression, looking like she was in a helicopter flying over NYC. I liked it so much that I bought tons of postcards and created a whole book about our “Great Adventure”, adding goofy shots of us into each one. I think I had more fun creating it as she did opening it!
    I would give the book to my three children who are growing up in a culture that tells them their work should be “perfect”. They know that’s not my opinion and it would be nice to have a cool book like this back it up.
    Thanks!

  3. I’d love to use this in the classroom to help illustrate the importance of trying. Many students are afraid to make mistakes when drawing or creating art. Art is a wonderfully adaptable medium of self-expression that should be enjoyed without fear.