THE ART POST

FLASHBACK! April, 2012.  Who is that chubby-cheeked imp?

Well, here it is, folks - I finally got everything organised for a bit of an art post.  I'll get to that in a moment, but first - an update! This week flew by, and despite having the schedule thrown off by Juniper being on school break, it was actually a whole lot of  fun. Most of the days were glorious and sunny, so the kids and I went on almost daily biking adventures (that is, me hauling both kids behind me in a trailer - bonus exercise!), there was a morning that Juniper went into work with Clark (wherein she worked on her own "PhD" while listening to Raffi's Christmas album), and, as I'll describe further on - there was a morning where I brought Juniper with me to open studio at the clay centre and showed her how to use the wheel.  

We finished the week off by having some friends over for brunch (which also necessitated a last-minute frenzied house clean, which was hugely needed), AND - wait for it - Linden successfully slept in his big boy bed!  This was aided by an added bed rail, a significantly reduced amount of snot, and no sleep-over with Juniper.  Progress.

So - on to the art!

1. Juniper's Art Show

Early in April, Juniper's preschool hosted their annual art show, where the whole building is turned into a gallery showcasing the kids' art projects from throughout the year.  Juniper had a large array of pieces up, and it was hugely fun to be able to wander around and find it all displayed so nicely.  I think I took photos of everything, but of course I won't share it all here.  I will, however, put up some of my favourites.

Linden and Juniper waving at the welcome sign

"Alaska's Two Bears"

A panda, of course

Black bird and nest

Sewing

Scary Dragon!

Dragon's Playground (wood sculpture)

"Me and a Bear in a Forest" 

2. Pottery

Originally, I thought I would just add a few pictures of some of the completed pottery pieces that I've done since starting classes at the new Falmouth clay studio in January.  It was actually pretty frustrating at first, coming back to pottery after a 10+ year hiatus, but after I got the feel of it again, it has become a bit of a passion (obsession?).  I love it!  I had forgotten how much I love it.  I'm still learning, of course, and often have sketchy results, but the process is pretty amazing. 

Anyway, when I was trying to decide what Juniper and I should do on our "girls day" on Thursday (Linden still had daycare, but Juniper didn't), it occurred to me that there was an open studio on Thursdays that I was just never able to make because I was always working on my thesis. So we got our things together, and off we went. Juniper LOVED it.  She threw three bowls on the wheel (with a *little* help from me), and also made a couple of snakes and turtle. We were there for over three hours, and totally blew threw lunch by mistake, but we were both having so much fun that we lost track of time.  I hadn't thought to bring a camera (and still didn't have my replacement phone), so my fellow potter, Amber, took some shots and sent them to me.  I'll have to remember to post pictures of the completed bowls whenever they get through their final firing.

Showing Juniper the ropes

Giving it a try on her own

And here are a few of my finished pieces, (mostly caught in use!):

Medium-sized bowl (with some homemade granola)

Large-ish citrus bowl

Canister and Lid, using sgraffito technique for design

Clark's beer stein (a gift promised at Christmas time!)

One of my favourite bowls (and no, it doesn't usually hang out on top of the sewing machine. but it is kind of an interesting shot, non?)

Table-top cutlery holder (or drinking glass) 

3. Linden's Art
Linden does a whole bunch of (pretty much entirely) non-guided drawing and painting at home, but since starting daycare, he has been bringing home some "projects".  I included a few of  them here because I thought his descriptions of them were pretty hilarious.

a)
Tara: Oh, nice!  What is this one, Linden?
Linden: It's some flowers and trees.
Tara: Lovely!
Linden: No, wait. It's clouds. And it's raining.
Tara: Oh, I can see that.
Linden: Ummmm, no.  It is just some balls of white stuff and some other things that I stuck on the paper.

b)
Tara:  How about this one, Linden?
Linden: That's not mine.
Tara: What do you mean?
Linden: That's Juniper's.  Juniper did it.
Tara: Well, I think it is yours. It came from your school, and it has your name on it.
Linden: Nope. It's Juniper's.

c)
Tara: Oh, I can tell what this one is!  An umbrella and some raindrops.
Linden: Nope, it's not an umbrella.
Tara: Ummm - Ok, then - what is it?
Linden: I don't know?
Tara: Really, Linden - I think it's an umbrella.
Linden:  NO! NO it is NOT an umbrella.  It is just - something. A thing. I don't know.

4. Juniper's Art: Intervention and Evolution

Finally, I just had to add a couple of examples of the evolution of Juniper's key concepts when it comes to drawing. I had to add them, because I wanted to give examples of what happens when a well-intentioned mother intervenes in said evolution, rather than letting it take it's course.

Example #1: People.

For a long time now, Juniper has been drawing classic kid-style people: a big head, with arms and legs sticking right out of it (no body or neck). They are all variations on something like these:

"Beautiful rainbow hair" (with cheeks and a chin, if you were wondering about those extra circles)

A portrait of me, if you couldn't tell

Then, one day - because I just couldn't resist - I nudged Juniper a little when she was drawing. "Hey, Juniper", I said in a conversational tone, "have you ever noticed that your people have no bodies?" She looked up at me, and back down at her paper, and exclaimed "you're right!  And no necks, either!"  A lightbulb had gone off.  I patted myself on the back, until she righted the situation by coming up with variations on this theme:

That's right - she went from drawing cute, kiddie-style head/body people to penis people. What had I done?  Luckily, the necks eventually calmed down a bit, and her current portraits are much less phallic:

Clearly, this is Clark

Example #2: Colour

You think that I would have learned my lesson on intervening, but shortly after the neck and body debacle, I stuck my nose in again.  Juniper had just finished her most recent drawing of an osprey (she has been drawing ospreys non stop since they returned to our neck of the woods recently), and I complemented her on it, but then added "just out of curiosity, why make everything one colour? Wouldn't it be more interesting if you used all those other beautiful colours as well?" 

Osprey, with a fish in talons, flying toward nest

Osprey in nest, with a bunch of eggs. Someone climbed that ladder to steal the eggs, but the osprey pecked at him and scared him off.

I had thought that maybe she would make the beak orange, the nest brown, the fish red (or whatever), but she interpreted my suggestion completely differently: 

Rainbow Osprey!

So, the lesson I have learned? I shall stop butting in, and let her make these realizations and discoveries for herself from now on. Really and truly! Also, it is pretty cool how differently we interpret some seemingly basic concepts.

Phew!  That is enough art posting for one day.  I shall leave you with a cow. Check out that udder! Have a great week!

Easter!

Diligently weeding the garden to put some snap peas in the ground

I remember always loving Easter weekend as a kid... and as a young adult, for that matter.  Four whole days off, nice spring weather, Easter treats, egg hunts, family dinners and gatherings - who could ask for more? Now that we have kids, it should be even more awesome. But I have to say, the last few have been a little rough.  A couple of nasty, nasty stomach bugs two Easters in a row, my grandmother's funeral two years ago, and that scary easter egg hunt we stumbled upon accidentally last year. Also,  now that we are in the States, it is barely a holiday at all.  There are no work days off, so we just squeeze it all into a normal weekend.

Nature drawings

This year, however, we were set for a pretty good one. No one was particularly sick, the Easter bunny was on top of things, we knew how to avoid the trample-fest "egg hunt", it was gorgeous and sunny, and there were loads of fun activities going on throughout the weekend to keep everyone entertained. And really, for the most part, it was successful. 

At Daffodil Days in Spohr Gardens.  Linden is clearly unimpressed with the quality of the face painting

I, however, inadvertently managed to sabotage all the goodness a number of times. Cases in point:

1. On Saturday I dropped my iphone in the toilet. It is currently in the process of drying out, but we don't have high hopes.  Plus I had to fish around in the toilet to retrieve it.  Bad start to the weekend.

2. I went completely bonkers on the Cadbury Mini Eggs.  I don't have many food weaknesses, but for whatever strange reason, Cadbury Mini Eggs is one of them.  I ate way, way, way too many, and then I ate some more.  And for a gal who doesn't consume a whole lot of refined sugar on a daily basis, my body did NOT appreciate it. Ergo, I felt like a sick, gluttonous wreck the whole weekend.  Then I ate more mini eggs.

3. We decided to try Linden out in his new "big-boy" bed:

Taken in a very dark, dark room - luckily the flash didn't wake him

Everything started out well.  Juniper was so excited about it all that she requested to sleep in the other bed that is in that room. After some intervention, both kids fell asleep.  Miraculous! Clark and I tasted a glimpse of what it might be like to have our own bedroom, all to ourselves. Then we celebrated by going downstairs and staying up too late watching Jurassic Park 2.  That was when things started to unravel.  As karmic punishment for watching such a terrible, terrible movie, we were woken up at midnight by a thump and some crying.  Of course, Linden had fallen out of bed. Everyone woke up, it got dealt with, we all went back to sleep. A very short time later, we heard crying, and a little voice saying "mama, mama - I sneezed, and I have snot all over my hands!" That would be Linden again (at the peak of a mucousy cold). The snot scenario repeated ad nauseum throughout the night, peppered by another couple of bed falling incidents, and then was rounded off nicely by Juniper getting up shortly before 6am and wanting to go see if the Easter bunny had come.  We were NOT in good shape.  As in, the whole lot of us. It was grumps-ville around here for a good portion of the morning (Clark and I may have threatened to cancel Easter entirely if Juniper did not go stay quietly in her bed until 7am).  But, we rallied, ate breakfast, did the easter baskets and egg hunts, and even managed to get ourselves out the door for a nice long bike ride to the beach, and then into the village. So - a pretty decent Easter all said and told.

Examining some treasure

Post egg-hunt 

The post-script to that whole fiasco is that Linden opted to go back in his crib last night. And we convinced Juniper that we would have to work our way up to them sharing a room a little bit more slowly.  But we'll get there eventually! Clark will fashion a rail to hopefully keep Linden from falling out, the colds will eventually disappear, and then perhaps we'll have the kids sharing a room in the not-too-distant future.  Fingers crossed!

Action shot: mid-roll down the hill.  That is a half-eaten cheese stick peeking out of Linden's back pocket  

 So today, it is back to life as usual.  Except for a few things.  First off, I am nipping that mini-egg sugar addiction in the bud, and cutting myself off cold turkey. This will be especially difficult, as all stores will likely be selling mini eggs at a post-Easter reduced price, and I have some of my father's sale genes in me. I may not be super fun to hang around for a couple of days, but hopefully the detox will leave me of much sounder mind and body.  I will pair that with daily yoga - you can hold me to that.  Secondly, for whatever reason, the school kids have ANOTHER entire week of school this week for "spring break". Seriously?  They just got "February break" a very short time ago.  How many weeks do kids need to take off in a year?  Anyway, the long and short of it is that Juniper will be home all week.  So that's actually quite a change in the schedule, and will result in not a huge amount of productivity from a work-related perspective on my end of things.  But on the bright side, we should have some fun girl time, and maybe some good playdates with some friends in the same situation. Plus, I have no plans to go spend gobs of money at the dentist this week, so really, things are looking up.

I will leave you with a little video. We will often have a moment of appreciation at the dinner table, if someone thinks of it. If we can, we all hold hands (although the table in this house is GARGANTUAN, and often we are not physically able to actually hold hands), and then either
a) we all take turns saying what made us happy about the day, and how we are thankful to all be eating a nice meal together, and then tell everyone in turn that we love them, or
b) we say this little blessing, given to us by our friend Tawnya before we moved away from Halifax. Here is Linden saying it all by himself.

See you next week!

Still no art

I just couldn't do it this week... I'm sure it really won't take all that much to organize a little post about some of the art that's been happening around here, but it does require taking some specific pictures, and Sunday did not lend itself to such pauses. It DID lend itself to taking Juniper to the last monthly round of folk dancing in Woods Hole for the season, however, so it was well worth putting my blogging plans on hold for another week.

mama-daughter yoga

I don't really have many stories with which to regale you, so I suppose I'll just post a few photos from the week.  Oh, and maybe an anecdote.

Juniper tries her "magic key" in potential fairy holes

Someone got a new hat

Looking out over Oyster Pond

A duck comes to visit

Purple flowers, purple girl

Scene:  It is evening.  Both kids have been put to bed.  Clark and I are finally sitting on the couch, and we hear a little persistent sing-songy chant:

"daddy!  daddy! daddy! daddy!"

It is Juniper.  She knows full well that she is not supposed to call down the stairs after bedtime unless there is some emergency.  Clark goes upstairs, very annoyed.

Clark:  "Juniper, you know you aren't supposed to call down.  What is the problem?"
Juniper:  "Ummmmm, I'm scared I'm going to have bad dreams.  Or that everyone is going to die in a fire"   (there are endless variations on these themes that she makes up and has at the ready)
Clark:  "OK, well you know the rules.  If it wasn't an emergency, and you called me up, then we're not going to be able to sing songs tomorrow night."
Juniper: "Oh, I know.  But I'm not worried.  You usually forget about that, and we sing anyway."
Clark: (a little stymied, because that is, in fact, true):  "Well this time, I will not forget."
Juniper: OK, daddy - here's what you have to do.  When you get downstairs, like as SOON as you get downstairs, you have to say out loud to yourself 5 times in a row "no song tomorrow night. No song tomorrow night".  THEN you'll remember"
Clark: "Um, OK - thanks Juniper."
Juniper:  You're welcome.   Don't forget - as SOON as you get downstairs. Good night.

The almost-art post

Family photo at the Knob

I had decided days ago that this post was going to be about art.  It seemed only fitting, as the annual art show at Juniper's preschool was on Sunday, and Linden has also been bringing home a bunch of stuff now that he's in daycare during the week.  Plus, I've got a bunch of pottery that is starting to make it's way home.  But then the weekend took over, and generated so many photos that I decided to push the art extravaganza to next week.  Plus, putting up photos is just generally less work than organizing a thematic post, and I need a break... not only was the weekend kind of crazy jam-packed, but the week itself was pretty much entirely consumed for me by a horrendous tooth-ache, followed by a surprise root canal. Yay!

Anyway, here you go: our weekend retrospective.

1. Haircut

I love Linden's head of curls.  So wild and unpredictable adorable and ever changing.  It very much mimics his personality. His hair had gotten long enough that he was often asking for a top-knot in the morning when I do Juniper's hair (which in and of itself is ridiculous and amazing).  But Clark and I made the joint decision that the mop of curls had to go... not only were they starting to get out of control, but tick season is upon us, and hair is a favourite hiding place.  Juniper will sit and tolerate a hair/scalp inspection, but Linden - not so much. I wanted to just... trim.  But Clark got out the clippers, and never looked back.  I was more emotional than I expected - in fact, Juniper came over at one point, and held my hand, and said "don't worry, mama - his hair will grow back.  Hair always grows back". True enough.  So here is the before - during - after series of shots detailing the transformation.  I hardly recognize him!  But he does look very dapper...

Pre-cut, from the side...

... and from the top (while playing drums)

Mid-buzz. "What is going on?' face. Or maybe "mama, why are you crying?" face.

Shorn.  Doesn't he look completely different?

2. Animals: We visited (and were visited by) a bunch of animals this weekend.  For example...

Dinosaurs!  Juniper brought these home from a birthday party. She specifically asked if she could have an extra one for Linden (who was home napping during the party). She looks out for him.

We were visited by four turkeys... two males and two females.  The males were totally putting on a show.

Regal or scary ugly?

Yes, we visited the lambs at Peterson farm again.

How could I resist posting when there was this much cuteness?

Watching the lambs. Linden resting his hand on Juniper's head. Seriously.

3. All the rest: I didn't get pictures of everything this weekend... for instance, Juniper went to a friend's 4th birthday (an event, which, incidentally, tired Clark out so much that he literally crashed when they got home, and lay comatose in bed while the rest of us had supper); Juniper was invited to a neighbour's house to make a sceptre and a crown; there was the grand art show which I will blog about next week - truly, it was a whirlwind.  But here are the shots that I did get from the other activities (namely, Open Day at Highfield Hall, and an evening hike to the Knob):

Juniper examining the "magic key" that she won after a scavenger hunt.  She thinks it might be to a fairy house.

Running up and down and all around. We were shouting "ready, set, go!" and then timing Linden and Juniper as they ran to a tree and back. Once, when we weren't paying enough attention, Linden asked a group of women beside us to count him down, and then ran back and gave them all hugs.

Tree climbing en route to the Knob

Juniper gazing out over the ocean

Heading home.