Beautiful Oops Moments Everywhere by Barney Saltzberg
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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:
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.
So glad to find out about this book! I know so many kids who are fearful of “mistakes”…When we emphasize ‘right answers’ all of the time, we lose the beauty of risk, exploration, etc. and it can be paralyzing. Great post.
We have had many tears with “ugly oops”. I’ve tried to get the boys to turn an oops into something alternative…I think Barney Saltzberg might have more inspiring ideas. Thanks for this great post! I want to give a copy to the boys’ art teacher at school and want one for us!
I love the idea behind this book! It sounds fantastic! Besides the enjoyment of great art projects, I love that it helps to teach kids to recognize the great things in all that happens with life. I’d love the chance to read this with my kiddos, they’d love it and I’d love all the great ideas. Thanks for the fantastic post and opportunity!
Melissa, this is very cool! Maybe I’m selfish but I’d love this book for me and my daughter. She’s not quite to that arts/crafts stage yet but we’ll get there soon and I just want to find a way to get her to enjoy art for the sake of it. Great guest post and I’ll be checking out more of Barney Saltzberg’s books for Book Dads!
I think I should give a copy of this book to my sons’ teachers each year. What a great reminder to relax and follow the child’s lead during learning and creating. So many times things that adults view as “oops” are part of a child’s Storytelling while drawing. Often, my son will make a picture and then keep adding things that end up “ruining” the picture: “And the dog got all muddy,” he’ll say, while scibbling brown “mud” all over his drawing. While I might initially be tempted to say, “Stop! You’re messing it up!”, I’ve learned that the process of imagining and storytelling are much more valuable than a pristine finished product.