Creative Living Space for Birds

 4 bottles of paint, 4 $1.00 houses , 4 creative littles always game for an art project and a rare evening with no plans. 

 The result?  Colorful housing for four lucky birds. 

Sophia da Vinci- A Masterpiece Gallery

Our little artist has been taking art class for two years.  Each week she runs in with a smile and then runs out with a work of art in hand.  She's loved every creative moment of it.  The classes don't end with recitals or banquets, so we wait for a grandparent to be in town to host art galleries. 

A couple weeks ago, Grandma was here,
so we strung some string and hung some art and sent out invites. 



Every corner of our porch held masterpieces of beauty or whimsy. 

Being the fancy gallery that it was, we offered lots of finger food. 

As we hung art pieces, prepped food and played some classical music,

the artist BEAMED. 

When the gallery was set, we opened for guests. 

Grandma and Aunt Jen
came to stroll through, ask questions, and ooh and aah.

Much to her delight and surprise, they even made purchases. 

Two of our smallest gallery guests could also be found sniffing around the snack table. 

 

The artist glowed for days following. 

A clear reminder to always celebrate, fuss and to say yes as often as possible to the dreams of a little girl.   

 

 

"The important thing is to create."  ~Pablo Picasso

4 Thumbs Up for Snake Hollow

Never do we go to KY without a stop at Bernheim Research Forest.
iWe hike, we meander through the gift shop and we check out tanks filled with interesting animals. 

When we eased into our parking spot this time, our eyes grew big at the sight of something new and very different.  Just outside the already notable visitor center was a stick maze.  That's right...as in a place to run and get lost in...made of tree branches...as in
a-MAZE-ing!

Artist Patrick Dougherty created this masterpiece, naming it, "Snake Hollow".

And impressed we were.

The passageways, doors and windows had major wow factor. 

Claire couldn't be bothered to stop for the likes of a photo.

Sophia on the hand, happily posed when asked, desiring to show off the bling worn just for the occasion. 

Most of the time, we only saw flashes of color rushing by. 
No worries, we never had to fear losing the littles.  Their squeals could be heard for miles. 


Nature+art+family+travel+exercise. 
4 thumbs up. 

A Brush With Creativity

A highlight of our summer was

carving out a week for creativity.   

Beaming each afternoon when I picked her up,

Sophia loved art camp.

At the end of the week,

she had many a masterpiece to be proud of. 

All artists must share their work to complete the experience,

so the play room became a gallery.   

With Papa in town,

the art show had a special guest that needed an invite. 

The artist stood at the door to welcome all guests,

pointing out notable pieces. 

Sophia loves each piece so much that

she turned down an offer from a generous patron for $15 million
for a particularly lovely painting. 

Enamored with the showing,

our special guest graciously enjoyed some refreshments.

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”

― Thomas Merton

Mess or Art?

Shaving cream plus paint equals happy littles. 

The girls had so much fun experiencing a Pinterest idea in action.  First thrill?  A pan of (Dollar Store) shaving cream, couple squirts of paint, and a paintbrush. 

They would have been content swirling and mixing, but we took the art up a notch.  White paper pressed lightly into the shaving cream made the coolest of effects.  Then we let that sit for about ten minutes before using a shower squeegee to remove the shaving cream.  When the paper dried, to our delight, it created a really great effect.  These have been cut into bookmarks to give as gifts. 

Art, my friends, is the perfect way to spend an afternoon!

"Inside you there is an artist you don't know about."

~Auguste Rodin

Dyeing Time

When our favorite
art spot hosted an egg dyeing event,
we boiled up some eggs, threw on some aprons and got crackin'.

You wouldn't have been able to beat us there. 

Even the Mr. got in on the egg action. 

Art-ing up our egg dyeing experience produced beautiful results. 

With feathers, crayons, stickers, dyes and glitter right at our fingertips, we didn't have to scramble for supplies. 

Our work was egg-ceptional!

After a while, we were all a bit fried, so we put all our eggs in one basket
and headed for pizza.

Happy Easter!

“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked."  ~Bernard Meltzer

Starry, Starry Night

What better way to end some time spent
gazing into space than to focus on Van Gogh's "Starry Night"?

Such fun to pull out the old elementary tubs and start introducing the littles to great artists.  Our printables came from this amazing resource. 

We enjoyed both coloring the masterpiece and putting it
together as a puzzle. 

This mommy and daughter masterpiece now graces our fridge.   

So grateful to Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Starry, starry night.
Paint your palette blue and grey,
~"Starry, Starry Night" by Don McLean

Art

The art of childhood is watercolor sets, crayons, finger paint, shaving cream, glue sticks and markers.  It is art class and the kitchen table.  Chalk on the driveway and tempura paint on an easel.  In childhood, art comes naturally, with ease even.  A thousand masterpieces flow from a deep well of imagination and great courage not hindered by age.  Then, with joy and love, they are given as the most personal of gifts. "To daddy" coming home from work, or "to surprise mommy". 

Today, she is an artist. 

Knowing that these days will likely pass away, we'll proudly hang her work, fussing over each one.  We'll not think about the mess.  We'll try harder to focus on watercolors and less on tasks stealing our attention.  

 And, we'll find time for art. 

Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do.

~Edgar Degas

Learning for Littles: Leaves

It has been said that when you have a child, you become a new person.
This apparently is truth, as I have become a preschool teacher.
The beauty of it is that this gig is a joy.

Autumn color was in full splendor over the last two weeks,
so a little focus on leaves was in order. 

All of the fun started with a leaf hunt and sort,

and then a trip to the library.
Picture books make us happy
(me possibly even more than the girls).



Little fingerprints made this delightful fall art.
(We printed the tree from here.  Search for fingerprint tree.)


Leaves were counted

and identified. 



After seeing the idea here,
painting leaves on coffee filters quickly was placed
on our top ten art projects list.



These turned out beautifully, and now hang on our window. 

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. 
~Albert Camus

A House to Paint In

While in bluegrass country last week, we spent some time at the parentals' cabin.  Hiking, taking family rides on the pontoon boat, grilling on the deck, wading in the water, paddle-boating, and taking walks with Papaw in search of the "tricky fox".  The highlight though was the newly constructed art house overlooking the lake. 

Just a few steps from the water's edge,

Dad built a small, open air building. 

With granddaughters in mind,  

it consists of a little table and a set of chairs. 

What might one do in such a wondrous house? 

Well, art of course. 

So we painted. 

Every piece of paper that could be found and every rock became art.  Some foreheads, arms and fingers too.

And after each art session,

our masterpieces were left to dry 

while we dipped our toes in the water. 

Thanks, Papaw, for the way you love our girls. 

"I found I could say things with color and shapes
that I couldn't say any other way -
things I had no words for."

 ~Georgia O'Keeffe