By Taylor Kraft Tape is the best birthday present for a 7 year old. Well, maybe not for everyone, but for 7-year-old Libby Linval, the present provided a thrill. Libby and her 10–year-old sister Hanna Linval love arts and crafts and use all sorts of media.
They use water colors, markers, chalk, colored construction paper, stickers and stamps. They also use some non-traditional things like scotch tape, tin foil, straws and coffee filters.
“My favorite medium is watercolors,” said Angela Linval, mother of the two girls. “We like to paint coffee filters with them.”
Angela folds up the coffee filter and dips it into water to completely saturate the filter. Then, she gets her brush wet, gets it full with color and then paints a small section of the folded coffee filter. She uses a few different colors, spots of red, blue, purple and green cover the small triangle. As she unfolds the filter, it is a tye-dye of colors after the paints have soaked through the coffee filter.
“It’s cheap and turns out really cool,” said Angela.
As her mother is painting, Libby is copying her mom, making an orange and black tie-dye coffee filter. Hannah has been working hard on her project. She likes peace signs. She draws a large heart and turns it into a peace sign. She writes "LOVE" below it in pink with a teal underline.
A proud mom, Angela starts pulling a large stack of both her daughters' work. Hannah’s picture of a person, made with tin foil and paper. A picture of a cross-country skier, complete with tape, by Libby. Angela’s friend Tracy Trapp proudly sports a snake made entirely from beads that hangs on her key chain made by Hannah.
The kids have always been artistic and don’t really care for TV. They like to create things. When they finish one project, they quickly grab another piece of paper or coffee filter to create something new. They work steadily and quiet on their art table that has been put to use. The table has all sorts of colorful marks made from paints, markers and other unknowns.
The living room looks like a normal room; it has a television, a couch and a few cabinets. When you look closer you notice that there are paints, markers, paper along with many other art supplies sitting on top, next to and inside the cabinets.
Luckily the girls’ creativity hasn’t broken the bank. They are part of an after-school program called Kid Connection. It’s a child care service for school age children providing fun, friendship, and learning. They do all sorts of arts and crafts which helps stir the girl’s creativity further.
“I didn’t start becoming artistic until I was an adult,” said Angela. Her daughters, on the other hand, have shown dedication to the arts since they were little. Libby was putting together puzzles at 18 months old.
Both the girls have always had their favorite things to do. Hannah likes to color with crayons and make things with beads, like geckos and bracelets, and Libby likes to paint.
“My favorite color is the whole rainbow except yellow and orange,” said Libby matter-of-factly.
Though both girls have their favorites, they both agree that their favorite thing to do is work on their art table with their mom.
Below is a slideshow of Hannah and Libby doing what they love to do
Click on map and move your arrow around the map to find Art Supply stores in the Duluth area