Art For You

A new shop has opened in my area and I think it may be one I frequent a lot. It isn’t really open to the public, since it is located in our front room, but it holds pieces that are priceless, at least to me.

My girls, while playing one night, came up with the idea to open an art shop, Art For You. Filled with pieces they created, from self portraits to landscapes, they worked hard with their markers, colored pencils and crayons to fill their shop with unique, one-of-a-kind artwork.

The girls have always loved to create art. From Play-Doh sculptures, sketches of our pets and many paintings, to the pieces they bring home from school or the Centre for Arts and Artists, art is a very important part of their lives. My oldest daughter was even recognized a couple of years ago for a water color painting she did during Iowa’s annual Youth Art Month.

I can honestly say I have no idea where they get their skills, as my husband and I can barely complete stick people, let alone work with multiple mediums. I was always very proud of what I brought home in elementary school, but, looking back, my parents were very kind with their praise.

The girls’ art shop has a sign welcoming patrons and a wall displaying each art piece, including prices for the items. I was told the prices were calculated by multiplying the number of colors used in the piece by two, which means they ranged from $10 to $20.

One special piece that had a free price tag for a while featured what I think started as a self portrait of my youngest but morphed into a more abstract interpretation. She was pretty proud of it until we asked why she went with six fingers on one hand. With that question, she became embarrassed and lowered the price to free. We told her that making the changes made it special and worth even more than a standard portrait. She perked up a little from the encouragement and decided it was worth a little more after all.

If a piece was selected, the girls got to work making frames for the buyer. With my crafts, I use a lot of iron on vinyl which comes on solid cardboard tubes. Given the amount of crafts I do, lets just say I have a lot of tubes.

Four tubes taped together made the perfect, sturdy frame with the drawing placed in the middle.

To finish the job, the art pieces were packed into a box and hand delivered to the buyer. Payment was given, in the form of designated “money,” and they skipped away, pleased with their efforts.

The girls worked hard the entire night and when bedtime came around, placed a closed sign at the entrance, in case anybody stopped by after hours. They were pretty proud of their work and I was even more so watching them use their minds in such creative and innovative ways.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at jpierson@newtondailynews.com