Word Art

The truth of the matter is that I’m not the best pray-er.  It’s not a habit that comes naturally to me, and I’ve been working on changing that these days.  For a long time I’ve had the idea to spell out the word “Pray” above one of the windows in the family room.  This is a place I pass by all the time, so it would be a continual reminder to pray, and it’s also right next to the door, the door that I’m often having meltdowns next to while trying to get my kidlets out the door to go wherever we need to be going.  Leaving is one of the most stressful things around here, so a bit of prayer mixed in would definitely be a  good thing.

A few years ago I gave each kidlet a letter to paint, and together those letters spelled “Read.”  We read a lot in the cabin room, and I have loved having that word over one of the windows.  I love that each kidlet completed a letter, and I love how the letters reflected their personalities.  I decided I wanted to do something similar with the word “pray.”  Still, it took me months and months to act on this idea, but a few weeks ago I was in the craft store purchasing some supplies we needed for the neighborhood Porkapalooza, and I saw these chipboard letters.  Because they were chipboard, they were quite inexpensive, yet nice and sturdy.  I also liked the type, so I snatched them right up.

On a rainy day I pulled out some acrylic paint, and bit by bit each kidlet came wandering into the art area and sat down and started painting.  I’m practically giddy with the result.  Seriously.  They spent so much time on these letters, and they turned out so great, and each one is so unique to their personhood and how they approach things.

The Banana painted the P (those are fish).  The R  was created by Mr. SP (it’s a long snakelike monster . . . there’s about 12 ways to read into what it’s doing in the word “Pray”  and exploring that kind of makes me want to write a term paper or something, but it might just be there because he likes monsters.)  Mr. TOF had a splendid time covering that A in paint, and the Y by YaYa is absolutely stunning.  It is filled with minuscule details, like a stained glass window on cardboard, and each detail was chosen with some specific symbolism in mind.

I love how this project turned out, and I love seeing it above the window.