And now for something completely different!

Hello everyone!
Today I wanted to share a non-fiber project. Ever since I've been working at a big box craft store I've had a few overpowering feelings:
1) An urge in the artistic direction (I work primarily in the art department, after all)
2) An overwhelming desire to get away from mass-production
3) A secret underlying hatred of the human race.

I guess number 3 is unrelated to this post...but it's still true.

So in addition to arts and crafts supplies, my store also sells home decor. There are these seriously adorable little 12x12 prints for sale. They're cartooney little pictures made for a child's room- a tiger hiding behind bushes, a rocket going out into space, etc and every time I walk by them I think, "dang those are so cute! I want one for my son's room!" And then I think about how NOT unique that would be. How much more would those pictures mean to me if they were made with my son specifically in mind? What if I made one myself?

In fact, I decided on something even better: My son and I each got a 12x12 canvas, and I drew a line on each with my charcoal pencil. I instructed him, "Paint below the line with green." Of course, he's 2 so I ONLY PUT OUT GREEN. I put out a few different shades of green, but left it at that. Once we were finished with the bottom (he strayed a bit, of course.) I cleaned all the brushes, set out new paint and said, "Paint above the line with blue!" Off we went.

Then, I went online for simple outline drawings of our favorite dinosaurs. I printed them out, enlarged at 150% and then we waited for our backgrounds to dry. In the meantime we painted some little wooden letters to spell out our dino names and then ... Well then I gave him a bath because he needed it. And also because he put SO much paint on his canvas that it was seriously refusing to dry.

I glued on the letters while he played with a puzzle nearby, and then I added the dinosaurs. Now, I can't draw. This is a fact, and is why I went with a printout. I used black to trace the outline of the dinos, as fast as possible. I used a LOT of black, laying it on thickly and quickly. Then, simply flipped the paper over and pressed it down on the canvas being careful not to smudge. Voila! Dinosaur outline!

Then Vyvyan came back over and he "painted" his dino. (I held his hand steady and basically painted it for him) We set them out to dry, and now we have 2 cute paintings to put in his room. And the best part is that we did it ourselves so they will be much more special and unique.

And here they are!

The T-Rex is still not dry, which is why it looks kind of blurry in the picture. Once he dries, I will draw on his sharp teeth with a black permanent marker.
So now you know my favorite dinosaur. Except, Stegosaurus isn't really my favorite dinosaur. Except, it is. See, my favorite favorite is the Dimetrodon but it turns out dimetrodon wasn't technically a dinosaur at all. (Betcha didn't know that.) Stegosaurus is a close second.
So,
What's YOUR favorite dinosaur?