Tuesday, June 25, 2013

weekend art

I ended up having a very artsy weekend.
It was lovely, and I now I want to share what we made.

A very stereotypical "Christina" piece
for my art teacher friend
who requested a larger version
of my little quotation
for hanging in her classroom.

This little piece is also a gift.
This one's going to a fellow blogger/contributor to Made.
The quotation is hers,
and the rendition of Montana dusk is all mine.

The next few pieces were inspired
by the beautiful Beth's (creator of Made)
challenge to make messy art.

"unfinished" set of two coordinating art journal pages
I had some fun using up the paint leftover from my dusky art
to make these two wild pages.


This piece was inspired by the paint left over
from Brother's messy art (see below).

Of course my children had to get in on the painty fun too.
They loved my idea of making paint blobs
and blowing on them through straws to make them spread out.
I really like Little Man's autumnal color scheme here.

Brother tried straw-blown paint blobs
and splatter painting.
Too fun!

Sweet Pea enthusiastically did her own thing
with what appears to be her favorite color: purple.

Benjamin abstained from the messy paint art,
but he did make lots of beautiful music.


This post has been full of Made references
(you'll have to bear with my enthusiasm).

Friday, June 21, 2013

art journal

One of the things I love about my art journal
is that its pages are small (about 6"x6").
These small pages make it easier
to fit small sessions of art-making into short amounts of time.
They also make it easier to let go of my uptight perfectionism
and boldly try new things.
(For some reason it's much harder for me to let go
when I'm staring down a big, blank space.)
In short, it's a little safe haven
were I am brave and just have fun
with my art.

One of the ways I do this is by incorporating
whatever art supplies my kids have out.
The following two pages are experiments in wax resist
that were made on a rainy day
when they had their crayons and coloring books at the table.

I've been a little slow jumping on the washi tape bandwagon
simply because it seems like such an extravagance.
(No local stores sell it, so I have to pay shipping too.)
Last week I finally got some, though.
Well, Benjamin got it for me.
'Cause he's sweet like that.
 I love it just as much as I thought I would!
I think it would make great a great stocking stuffer.
Just sayin'...

While I was melting the boys' crayon nubbins
to make new heart crayons last week,
I decided to try some encaustic painting.
Okay, so technically encaustic painting uses
bees wax and powdered pigment,
but I figured that melted crayon wax
would make a fine substitute this time.
 My first try turned out pretty cool!
Melted crayon wax is hard to work with,
but the texture is amazing.

 My second try, well, lets just keep the 
brave and fun concepts in mind
because it's sure not great art.

For my third attempt I got a different paintbrush,
and it turned out pretty cool too.

And then there's this thing.
I sat down with my pens to make a
"one thing at a time" doodle
while focusing and organizing my thoughts.
But OF COURSE,
I didn't listen to my own advice
and jumped up to do something else.
When I came back, I discovered that my little Sweet Pea
had decided to edit my art.
Too funny.
I finished the words
and then added some of my own embellishments
around hers.

linking up with Jen's In the Studio again today

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

summer

I don't really like summer.
Sure, there are aspects of summer that I love,
but the heat just sucks my life out.
Plus I have seasonal allergies,
and I never know what to cook when it's hot.

I'm trying to stay focused on the good things, though,
because life is so much nicer when you're not whining.

Here are some of the fun things we've been up to:

Little Man saved up his money and bought himself a new bike!
We're working on learning to ride without training wheels now.

Their enjoyment of the kiddie pool is infectious!
The sprinkler is great too.
I take my turn running through it,
but there's no photographic evidence. :)

Our popsicle love is still going strong.

left to right:
cherry lemonade
tropical trio (banana, pineapple, and coconut milk)
fruit-salad-sicles (bits of melon and strawberry in pineapple juice)

I'm having so much fun
learning as much as I can as fast as possible
about jewelry making.
Now I just have to figure out how to take better pictures
of the stuff I make.

sweet tea
(Who says mugs have to be reserved for the hot liquids.
I heart my mug collection all year long.)


We're seeing how far we can get through the Little House series
for the summer library reading program.

It was that time again.
Time to upcycle the dirty, broken crayon bits
into bright, fresh heart crayons.

Not pictured:
Planting flowers
Date nights with Ben
(Motorcycle ride and a picnic with a view! Also Star Trek.)
Dairy Queen
Vanquishing organizing projects
and completely rethinking my laundry system.
(Both much more fun after the fact.)
Road trip to Washington with Mum and the kids.
Enrolling Little Man in school
Autumn vacation planning

Friday, June 14, 2013

Father's Day art

Backstory:
A couple of years ago
my dad was driving home late at night
when he plowed into a full-grown moose at 70 miles per hour.
Miraculously, he walked away from the wreckage.
Since then we have had some fun
giving him all sorts of moose themed gifts.
It's part joke, but deeper down it's a reminder
that life is short and God is good
and that we should make the most of the time we have.

Here and now:
Last Tuesday
I randomly flipped through a vintage book
that I had stashed for future projects,
and I found a section about moose
which even included a cool moose picture.
Inspiration struck,
and in no time I found myself making the some father's day art
instead of working on laundry. : )

made from layers of
scrapbook papers, vintage book page and moose illustration,
 watercolors, my own calligraphy, and thread.

It's not a traditional card,
just a flat piece of art with a not written on the back.
He'll love it, though.


Linking up with the fabulous in the studio group
for the first time in way too long.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

five months

Baby Boy is five months (and a little more than one week) old!

Right now he...

eats
mama milk
oat cereal
the occasional bite of big people food
(he doesn't want to be left out)
anything: toys, magazines, blankets, hands, etc.
(teething already?)

[first solid food]

sleeps
in his crib most of the time
4-6 hours at the beginning of the night fairly consistently
better when he rolls himself onto his side or tummy

says
babbling "talk" when making eye contact
sings himself to sleep often
is loud when he finally gets worked up enough to cry
has a fantastic and contagious belly laugh


does
rolls around all over the floor
loves toys
(picking them up, examining them, and chewing on them)
can scoot a little bit in an inch-wormy way
is trying to get his knees under himself to crawl
loves to stand (with help) and step and jump
has enjoyed hanging out in the johny-jump-up twice
kicks his legs vigorously in a jumping motion when excited
plays with his toes

likes
music
being held
excercising
toys that make noises when handled
being the center of attention
making other people laugh
(most notably by blowing his food everywhere)

dislikes
having a wet or messy diaper
being too hot or too cold
not being picked up after making eye contact and cooing
having his toys out of reach

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

grey and green




splatter, pat.
the rain is back.
the sky, layers in grey.

why do they say
that sun is best?
i'll never know.

because green is greenest
against the grey.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Made: an e-course

Guess what!
I get to teach a session about calligraphy
in this collaborative e-course!
Registration is open now
(not June 15th),
and there are some cool prizes for the first people to register.