Peach Coglo

Sketchbook~May 18, 2012

A peek at my sketchbook.  .  . I need to start drawing and painting more so I'll be sharing my sketchbook pages in whatever state they are in at the moment, finished or unfinished.  It's unfinished this week.  I am hoping this will get more drawing more.  Practice, practice, practice.  What are you practicing lately?

Have a fantabulous weekend friends.

 

 

 

 

Finally

We had a fun long weekend.  I hope yours was just as fun and relaxing.

The weekend started off nicely as I delivered a special order to some of the nicest people I have ever met.  It feels great to share my art and to be around such kind folks.

Our Friday night movie was Here Come the Littles.  That had to be one of the most 80's movies I've ever seen.  It was okay though and definitely entertained the kids.  However, I am looking forward to the new Miyazaki movie.  Somehow I think it will be much better.  You probably already know what a Miyazaki nerd I am.  

Saturday was studio time-time for painting and thinking and planning.  There was much lego-building, train-running and game playing all weekend.  We started an ice ring.  It's finally cold enough to do this outside.  The kiddos made gingerbread cookies after Helena's dance class.  It's a new tradition for the kids to find something to bake with their Dad every Saturday.

Sunday we took a trip to a jazz concert at the library.  Anytime I can get myself and the kiddos to some live music, I do.   We also took some time to clean some more.  I finally got rid of those cruddy knob protectors that were broken.  Maybe now I will attack that monster of a craft area.

I found some super cheesy pink twinkling Valentine's lights.  Yes, I went there.  For someone who didn't get why people decorated for almost every holiday, I have gone in the opposite direction.  I love twinkly lights; winter is dark and I miss Christmas lights.  Plus I think we all need more twinkly lights in our lives.

On Monday we took some more time to paint, draw and make wax paper crayon hearts.  I let Elijah go on this one so we may need to do some more ironing to spread out the wax some.  This craft was a little more difficult than I expected.  Oops.

The kids and I talked a lot about Martin Luther King and listened to his speech and biography.  We talked about how our family couldn't "legally" exist.  The kids are a little young so I try to dose out these lessons as we go along but in a sensitive way.  I watched the Meet the Press interview with Dr. King.  You can feel how much they didn't like him.  It's long but interesting.  You can find it here.  It is almost surreal watching Dr. King from 1965.  The questions he was asked are very interesting to say the least.

Then late Monday night we started getting this:

        Finally. 

How was your weekend?

Drawing with Toddler

I have resigned myself to the fact I can't paint watercolor while Eden is in her present stage-too much risk of things going wrong.  I tried but no go.  It's hard to get an even wash when someone needs their 6th clementine peeled or they have a sudden need to go to the bathroom.  If she would nap, then it would be another story.  Alas, she has decided she needs no stinkin' nap.  So after some thought, I just adapted my attitude and medium.

I have discovered I can draw while she is up with not much risk of disaster.  Yay!  Hopefully this will encourage her to do more of her own drawing.  Double yay!  I draw in the day and paint at night before I get to bleary-eyed.  So it's been an adjustment, with some tweaking, but it's been cool planning drawings for eventual paintings and making them while hanging with Eden and listening to this.  I would even say it's rather meditative.

Light undersketch-hopefully for a Doran painting.

Detailed sketch for a detailed raspberry painting.  Don't scream Julie.  ;-)

Have a great Thursday!

Parachute Manufacturer

Elijah has been fabricating parachutes.  It's fun to watch him.  He gets an idea in his head, makes up a pattern and he's off.

Photographic Friday ~ One

This is the beginning of what I hope will be a weekly routine.  On Fridays, I will be sharing the photograph(s) of the week that appeals to me the most.  I might chose it because an experiment actually worked, the subject matter, the feel of the light or how I was feeling at the time I snapped the shot regardless of whether the photograph is "good" or not. 

According to Malcolm Gladwell, it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to develop expertise with a skill.  I am nowhere near that, and time's a-wastin'.  Today is my birthday too, so what better time to start something new than with a new year!

With my friend Amanda's sweet encouragement, I have begun experimenting more with my camera. I am studying more.  I am practicing photography mindfully, trying to improve my skills and confidence.   Consequently there are a lot more photos now that I haven't had the opportunity to share.  I don't think it would work too well for me to post random photographs during the week (at least for my already organizationally-challenged brain), hence Photographic Friday. 

It's a very freeing feeling to let go of fears and expectations of perfection. If the end result is a little cray-cray, then that's just what it is.  Thanks Amanda.  To check out her beautiful photos, head on over to the habit of being, one of her special spots on the "interwebs".  Thanks for that word too Amanda.  ;)

If you would like, leave a link to share your own photography.  It matters not whether you make a living with your photography.  I simply love it when people share their art.  So thanks for coming along on the ride.

 

Photographing reflections

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

Bunnies

Nope, not real bunnies.  Since it's Spring and almost Easter, it's bunnies on the brains in our house.  Mama cannot be convinced to bring a real bunny or even a hamster into our digs.  After a few complaints, the children got to thinking and breaking.  You see I finally pulled out some of our Easter decorations, some ceramic bunnies, nothing really fancy.  Helena broke one not five minutes after I put it out.  She was pretty upset.   I don't know if it was exhaustion or maturation, but I didn't think much of it.

However, Helena was convinced we could go buy another one.  Well, we had a talk about how the first thing we do is take care of the things we have.  We then discussed that we just don't automatically go out and buy new stuff just because something was broken, and that we try to be mindful about what we bring into the house.  Then I told her that the store probably no longer had that particular bunny decoration anymore anyway.  I don't know how much of the "conversation" she absorbed, but she felt really terrible about the broken decoration and really wanted it replaced.

Then, of course, she had an idea.  She would make a new bunny.  Helena sewed up a nice little bunny out of fuchsia felt.  I would show it to you, but she has been playing with it and I have no idea where it went.

Seeing these dramatic developments, Elijah decided he wanted to make some bunnies too.  At first there were tears and frustration.  He cut without first making a pattern or planning his design.  Then he complained he didn't have enough time to finish before dinner.  I told him that next time, he might choose to work on his creations rather than watch that half-hour of television.  He thought about that one for a moment and agreed.  I then gave him some sturdy paper so he could draw his pattern.  He managed to cut it out before dinner.

After dinner he whipped the bunny together.  It had a cute basket and eggs which he promptly gave to his sister and well you know.  Then he decided to make a backpack instead of using the missing basket.  I think he preferred the backpack to the basket.  Helena was busy sewing up a felt egg (again this is somewhere in the house).  The egg had hair too.  Maybe we'll find it.

I need to photograph these things as soon as they are made because poof! they are gone in a flash.

This is Elijah's bunny.  He thought it would look nice in the basket.  I had to rescue it for a photo.  Between the time he made it and the time I got this shot, he had played with it so much that the backpack ripped a bit.  He then put it back on the bunny, but on the bunny's front instead of it's back.  It's the 80's once again.  ;-)  Every mother loves what her child makes, but I think it's neat he made a removable backpack.

I think it's time for me to get in on the fun of making.  What are you doing, making or wanting to do to prepare for Spring and all of the season's holidays and celebrations?

 

 

Twig

Recently, Helena, Doran and Elijah selected some books to add to their libraries. This time they used a gift from their sweet cousin, McKenzie. Presently, Helena is deep into Fairyland. It's fairies almost all the time around here. She has been coming home with some less-than-stellar fairy books from the school library. All of her little friends are reading them.

Armed with her gift card, Helena was on the search for more books. I actually suggested that she try to find some fairy books. I find it's definitely a fine line between controlling the process and gently guiding the process. It was her gift to do with as she pleases, but Greg and I also mindful about what comes into the house and into the children's worlds.

This may sound overprotective or even paranoid to some, but I believe children are exposed to way too much too soon these days. The atmosphere around play and childhood is much different from when I was a child. It's almost as if children are little profit units for large corporations. Marketers have actually admitted to pushing children to "grow up younger". I know I could barely believe it myself.

Overbearing commercialism seems to have taken over much of childhood and our children's imaginations. We don't prevent all commericial toys or books from our house, but there are limits. I want the children to be able to choose what they like, and I also want them to know that their imaginations, reading, and play are not meant to be circumscribed by giant toy corporations (and this is from someone who enjoys Thomas and Star Wars). For an eye-opening discussion about this subject, check out Simplicity Parenting.

One awesome resource we use for books, besides research and word-of-mouth, is The New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children. There are a lot of old-fashioned, non-commercialized, yet still amazing reading choices for children. We have the 1992 version so I know it's are missing more recent treasures, and I can't vouch for newer versions of this guide.

But back to the fairy book search, Helena found a book called Twig. Everyone loves it. The book is about a little girl who finds a fairy, and an elf. She even talks to the birds. This book was first published in 1942. A good thing about Twig is that the protagonist is a poor little girl. She uses string to keep the sole of her shoe attached to its upper. It's a good "view" into a child's life that is financially different than their own.

I was happy Helena chose this one. I was also impressed with the reviewers who describe books so vividly. When she read that the book had magic and fairies in a tomato can, she was hooked (as were her brothers). Every night, they plead for more chapters.

So I am interested, each family is different and has different comfort levels with media, commercialism and toys. How do you approach toy and book choices in your house?

Working on Some Art

Yesterday, Eden and I painted together.  It was a little tough, but necessity rules.  I need to paint everyday even if it means paintings don't quite turn out due to "distractions" and interruptions.  It's good to get the practice.  Otherwise, I wouldn't get much time at home to paint given all of the activity around here. 

I think Eden made a fun painting.  I am not exactly in love with mine, but it's all a part of the process.  We're going to do some more painting today with a neighbor.  I got the idea from Meg.  I am using the book First Art for different ideas.  I figure it will be fun for Eden to create with her little friend (they were born two days apart), and a great excuse for my friend and I to get together.  We'll see how they like it.

Here's a peek at our work from yesterday.

 
I need to tighten things up, do some shading, texturing, and connecting.  Painting coral and wavy sea stars is harder than I thought.

 
I sketched some palm fronds for my Buddha painting.  I did this between cooking dinner and helping Elijah with one of his sewing projects.  It's not my favorite way to work, but I have to learn to do it if I want to get any conscious time in with my art.  I am hoping that when the children see me painting or drawing they will sit down and join me or at least just sit down. ;-)

And here is Eden's painting; she came back to it here and there over the course of an hour.  I really like how it turned out.

 

Have a great Thursday!

A Simple Invention

As you already know, Elijah is constantly inventing and creating things.  He can find a use for anything.  While I am trying to declutter and reduce the stuff coming into our house, he is holding onto old straws, scraps of paper, and empty toilet paper holders.  I was trying to recycle an accordian straw he had stored away in his room.   He was insistent that I not get rid of it.  "I know I can find a use for it later Mom."  Turns out he could use the straw as a whistle.  The boy was right.  He comes up with some very neat stuff, but I am at a loss for helping him organize it all and make decisions about what to keep and what to bring in the house in the first place.  It's hard for a six year old; it's hard for anybody.  It's definitely hard for a six year old collector-of-all-things.  So it's a challenge.  I want to encourage Elijah and all of the children to create, repurpose things and reuse them, but I also don't want my house looking like the set of Sanford & Son.  Can't you just hear the theme music now?

But back to my baby boy's interesting inventions.  This latest one I call cuff links for napkins.  He decided that paper napkins don't stay together properly.  (This reminds me that I need to whip up some more cloth napkins for our stash; we go through the ones we have with amazing speed.)  Anyway, with a simple office supply and his brain, Elijah created his napkin cuff.

 

"This helps me use my napkin better mama."  Well, okay then.  Elijah did indeed use this napkin, and I can kind of see what he means about the napkin slipping around without this cuff link.  It does look nice and neat.

 
Back view

So how about you, how do you encourage and support your children's (and maybe your) projects, without turning your house into a version of Fred Sanford's palace?  Cue the theme music.

Rocks and Bugs

As many of you know, I really enjoy trying out some of the crafts Gardenmama creates.  Her projects always use simple materials and usually I have them on hand.  The other day we tried putting transfers on rocks.  After a daunting trip to the craft store (think two-year old, a lot of space, and a customer in front of us with ten coupons none of which were working), we were able to do a fun and quick project.   The kiddos picked transfer sets with their favorite images.  There are a lot.  I am looking forward to hitting the beach for some more rocks.  I want to decorate with them more; they are so grounding.  We are looking to paint some more as well as try some more transfers.  I never knew we could have so much fun with a beach rock?

 

 

The process is very simple, but you can find Gardenmama's tutorial here.

Have a great Tuesday!