Little Artist

My youngest dd is very much an artist at heart. She loves to paint, draw, and make things with her hands. She said she would like it if I posted these recent drawings on my new blog . . .

Art Journal - 1

Last summer I decided it would be fun to start an art journal. Because I find it hard to be creative without there being a specific PURPOSE for the creativity (I know, that's a bit warped -- but I think it's the whole "Mommy Guilt" thing), I decided that it could be a place for me to experiment with ideas to use with my children, since I want them to enjoy and appreciate art and recognize their own creative abilities. I considered purchasing one, but it being the summer and all, when the cash only flows out, not in, I decided to make one with the materials we had around the house.

I started with a couple of pieces of cardboard, some paint, a picture from an old art calendar, a binding machine (2 bucks at a garage sale!!!! Can you say, "Score!!!!"???), and a bunch of different papers, and VOILA!

Here you can see all the pretty page edges . . . various colours of cardstock, black lined paper, sketch paper, watercolour paper, tracing paper (that seems more like vellum to me), hand made (NOT by me)paper -- all so lovely and clean! I cut some of the edges with a wavy blade just to add some variety.

And here are some of the first few completed pages . . .

There are other pages -- but I have yet to upload them to my computer. Nothing highly professional or anything, but I sure am having fun :)

Artistic Endeavours

I thought I would jump-start my blog by posting some of the art work I've done over the last year or so. It's not a lot . . . but it's the start of my life as an artist -- or at least the start of my life VIEWING myself as an artist :)

At our children's annual bake exchange, my oldest daughter's group made what we called "Glamour Globes" with styrofoam balls, scraps of fabric, thread, ribbon, and dangly stones. This is the one I made as a sample.

(December 2008)

DD1 received a book about making collages for her birthday last year. It looked pretty cool, so while my girls were doing some crafty stuff, I decided to try my hand at some of the techniques. The saying is not an expression of my personal feelings, but rather what I imagined the stressed-out mama cat thinking as she watched her noisy kittens. Besides, her ears wouldn't fit on my little dollar store canvas, so I thought a quotation that related to ears was apt;)

This altered book (my first) is the product of my "art date" with my Valentine. It's entitled "Story Starter." You finish the story . . . ;)

(February 2009)

I enjoyed making my first little kitten collage so much that I decided to make one for my beloved for Valentine's Day :) The text is a Shakespearean sonnet that made me smile when I thought about how it applied to us. The background was the most fun -- creating texture with acrylics and plastic wrap.

The wire cross was a simple ornament I made to accompany a "random act of kindness" last Easter (2009). I'm sure I saw the idea online somewhere, but I'm afraid I don't remember where . . . (Oh! here it is! )

 Finally -- just a little blown egg with tissue pape rmache and a few pearls (perched on a small vase for the photo). I try to find new ways to decorate eggs with my children each year, and this is what we did last year (2009). Very sticky process -- but pretty. I was inspired by this post over at Inspiring Ideas.

BTW -- do you have have any great ideas for Easter art/crafts that help reflect the true significance of the celebration?

The Birth of a Blog

Well, here I am in the blogsphere at last :) I've considered -- and even attempted -- blogging a couple of times, but I never really had a focus -- a real REASON to blog. And, given that I am easily sucked into cyberspace, where time is a nebulous concept, I have always been afraid that I would allow too much of my life to be consumed by the details and intricacies of blogging (especially since I know so little about the technical stuff).

But now I have a very specific focus: creativity. That is, my plan is to explore that aspect of God in my life, and in the lives of my family members. I’ve always liked “making” things, but I would never have considered myself an artist by any stretch of the imagination, nor would I have seen “art” in many of the creative things I’ve done. But lately, I’ve been thinking about the many ways “creative” can be applied to me and the people in my life, and I’m thinking that, really, we all can claim the title of “artist” to some extent . . .

I’m not really sure when the transition started to take place – the transition to seeing myself as creative – as an artist in the image of the Master Artist. Perhaps it was when I read Edith Schaeffer’s Hidden Art  last year. She defined the concept “as the art which is found in everyday life” – serving a meal, setting a table, decorating a room, reading a story to children, gardening outdoors or in a window-box, painting, singing or playing an instrument, writing letters, choosing clothing, arranging flowers . . . an endless list of commonplace activities that give each of us an opportunity to express ourselves as creative, unique individuals. Reading the book was especially meaningful for me as it is one I remember sitting on my mother’s bookshelf as I was growing up. And it was clear to me as I read that the book had profoundly influenced my mother’s way of thinking, right down to her hoping my father might turn the motor of an old washing machine into a pottery wheel. That never happened, but the candle-making, flower arranging, and the collections of “pretty things” clearly found their inspiration in that book, as evidenced by the scrap paper notes scattered throughout it. Somehow, that gave me a glimpse of the image of my mother in me, as well as the image of our Maker in both of us. That was significant for me.

If I go back a little farther, though, I can see a broader creativity connection to a book by Karen Ehman called A Life that Says WELCOME: Simple Ways to Open Your Heart & Home to Others. That book challenged me to consider ways to bring beauty and creativity into things like hospitality and stewardship of the resources we have. I read the book shortly before we moved into our current home, and was excited to implement some of the ideas she described. What was particularly exciting was the fact that we now had space for a room devoted entirely to creativity. My husband is an artsy kinda guy, and he was glad to encourage creativity in our family by setting up a room for that purpose. We have actually shared a few date nights working in the “Art Studio” (upgraded from “Craft Room”) together. That has helped me to explore my own creativity a little bit – and given me opportunities to see that, ya, maybe I CAN create lovely things . . .

More recently, I’ve been inspired by Mary E. DeMuth’s book, Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture. It’s not a book about art or beauty, but it recognizes the value of these things. Not only does she advocate experiencing and exploring art in the context of family life, she suggests, “We have the joy of partnering with our children in the act of creation. Just as Creator God breathed this world into existence, as His image-bearers we partner with Him and each other as we create. In this formation of family in a postmodern world, where experiencing the arts has become more and more essential, we prepare our children to meet that world as we embrace the arts and creation” (p117). Sounds like a pretty good reason to me to reflect on creativity.

Anyway, the long and the short of it is that this blog will be a place for me to post evidence of creativity in my life – in my artistic endeavours, in the teaching and training of my children, in my home-making, in my memory-making, and in my family at large. I hope you find some inspiration in the words and pictures here. After all -- you, too, are CREATED TO BE CREATIVE!