I helped my younger cousin with her art activity

As one of the oldest cousins, we are always there to guide our younger siblings or cousins. Because we should be the right example for them, especially when they don't have their parents to guide them because they are working.

Of course, I also became their second parent even though I was still young (since I was 12 years old when my younger cousins were born). Every time it's vacation time, our aunt lets her child stay here at our grandma's house because she needs to go to work and no one will see her daughter as her husband is working abroad as well.

As for me, I am not really their oldest cousin because we also have my older sister as the 'eldest' and I am the second. Being the oldest is a very thought-provoking task for me, and because of this, I can understand how hard it is for my older sister to take care of me in terms of "siblings-relationship". Despite their being so very stubborn and hard to handle, there are many positive things that I also enjoyed about taking care of babies before, such as:

• I can make them cry, and it's fun. I like them crying and being mad because they are so very cute when they cry and they will report to their parents what I did.

• I can be able to finish their snacks, and one of my most favorite snacks is their Chuckie and Stick-O, lol.

But oh well, being one of the eldest is really hard, especially since they are now grown ups. They are now college and high school students, and it's very complicated to teach them better because they are stubborn and don't listen to my advice.

They even told us that their most favorite older sister is not me and my older sister because I am so very ill-tempered and strict, but they still don't understand that I am just doing that because I am concerned and I would like to teach them what I have learned that their parents taught me when I was about their age because I went through that experience.

• One of the things they disliked about me right now was when I took their phones and chargers. Because I want them to focus on studying or reviewing their books and notes and, of course, help our grandma with the chores during the weekend: sweeping outside and inside the house, learning how to cook rice, washing dishes morning, noon, and night, or something like that. They will be able to have their phones back when they do their assignments and activities too, because they need them for research on Google.

I do that because if they keep their eyes on their phones, they will watch Tiktok videos and play mobile games again without finishing their homework.

Anyway, my younger cousin that I am helping right now with her activities is a Grade 8 student. Our grandparents can't take care of her because our grandma is prohibited from doing a lot of hard work (so I am waking up early in the morning to cook her breakfast and pack her lunch box) and she doesn't know how to help my younger cousin with her activities either. Our Grandpa is also the same and he can't have some time to do my cousin's assignment too because he's going to the farm and he's going home tired. And they are both old now.

So I am just the only one here in the house who can guide and help her in her assignments and activities when she needs someone's help, as her mom also said to me to take care of and look after her daughter.

Yesterday, my younger cousin forgot that she had an activity in the arts (MAPEH subject) because she had many assignments and activities. She just remembered that when she saw my art materials. She needed my help as she was not yet finished with her other activity. She said that their assignment is to paint one Vietnamese art piece. It was very hard for me to search on Google for what to paint because their paintings are so very professional and it was really hard for me because I was just a beginner in water color painting.

And I saw this one:

I think this is the most basic for me, but I am not sure if I will be able to paint the colors well.

So in the first step, I prepared the art materials that I needed, of course.

• Water colors

• paint brushes,

• Water

• and, the 1/2 illustration board

Second, I copied the objects that were drawn in the artwork.

I can't believe that I can copy it but not the same as what was drawn in the original art work. But I am already satisfied with this outcome, even though it was zoomed in and the flower vase is not in the picture already.

Third, we will start coloring:

• The first thing that I notice is the skin of the mother and the son. I used two colors here for the skin tone, which is to combine the color light brown and white.

• Then, I coloured the dress of the lady. I used the colors green, yellow green, dark green, light blue, and of course, I also combined two colors, which is green and blue, because I don't have blue green.

Well, my mistake is that the color of the dress of the lady is not really green. There is a color combination that is needed to achieve this kind of color, and I think it's white+green or blue+white. But I still continue coloring it, and I just trust the process and see the result when it's already dried.

• I also colored the clothes of the baby using yellow and brown.

• I painted the walls using the colors grey and black.

• For the hair, I used black and white for a little detail.

• I don't know the color combination in the background, but I just combined blue, violet, and white. And the colors are blue and white in the below part. Then green and black for the trees in the background.

• Then last, I also add a little detail to the eyes, nose, lips, and ears of the lady.

For the second layer, I just need to wait a little so that the colors will dry so that I can paint the curtain in the background. I mixed the color blue with white. I also asked someone who was a professional in art what colors I should use to achieve the curtain color and she said that I should only put white, but I was afraid that it wouldn't turn out great and the white color would be just invisible and not obvious just like what I did before. So she told me that in that case, I could also use white and blue.

And there! I have already finished and I need to add thin black lines in both hands. I improved it by adding the ears, eyes, and brows of the baby, but I forgot to photograph it after I finished it because the electricity went out while I was in the kitchen, and I was scared, so I ran quickly into my room, and when I woke up earlier, I also forgot to take a picture of it before my younger cousin went to school because I cooked her breakfast and prepared her lunch box.

Conclusion...

Phew! It's really hard to paint, eh? But I gave it my all and I agreed to do her art activity to warm up my hands as well as to see if I could do it.

As you can see, there are a lot of differences. from coloring, sizes, but I think this is good enough for a student like her, and it's not that she will really copy the art work. As long as my younger cousin has something to present to her teacher, this is good enough already. Don't mind me! I'm just trying to cheer myself up because I know that I didn't do it well.

So this is all for today. Thanks for reading! I see you around. Don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comment section after seeing my ugly art work!

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