diorama delight!

I love how this last class in our inspiration series truly reflected each child, their interests and imagination!
With a treasure-trove of media from ocean creature sketches to pompom anemonies to clay clam shells + boats, the children gathered and wove a story from their own imagination to support their 3D wonderland!

Even though we ran through some particulars of diorama making, taking particular note of elements in the backgound, mid and foreground and using the 'tab' technique on card elements to make them stand, each child showed a preference for their own unique embellishments.

I loved how this project became a wonderful reflection of each personality! One beautiful girl wanted her diorama to be 'elegant, glittery and beautiful!' and wrote a poem to accompany, another wrote a delightful tale of deep sea-adventure on a 'deep sea scroll' to tell her story, another still had 'moving parts' in her narrative!

It has been a truly magical journey through the inspiration 'under the sea'....the intimate group were a delight to teach and we all found it a wonderful way to weave creativity into our weekend!

weekday weave

She's doing / I'm working on / inspired by....
Just another creative day juggling work + motherhood!
Wishing you a wonderful day x
[apologies, I've misplaced the link to the artist responsible for the lovely abstract]

weekend wanderings

Wow! These children are fantastic!
We worked on abstract backgrounds for our diorama's this week in our third Saturday morning inspiration series class at Riverbend.

Abrstract painting releases such freedom and boldness in children! Realising there is no 'perfect' way to represent their own unique interpretation of 'under the sea' the colour flowed!

And with time to experiment with a few different techniques from aquatic forms to spatter painting...they had several works to choose from for their final piece.

These Saturday mornings are so much fun and wonderfully relaxed..a perfect way to kick-start a creative weekend!

Our family rolled on into a sensational aquatic-themed-party on Sunday afternoon - grey skyes looming and all - when it comes to water - children will take it any way it comes!!

something new

We branched into something new this weekend. Gathering nature + curiosity + art + interest and packaging all up into a small display in a wonderful bookstore.

I hope that this small inspiration, a snapshot of the world that is WEAVE+WONDER might catch someone's eye...while they are buying that 'perfect' book and cause them to WONDER...

'...Maybe with eyes to see a little inspiration in my everyday, I might WEAVE some creativity in amongst the business...pause the technology long enough to make something with my hands or draw from my imagination...maybe with my children, maybe for myself...'

Because each of us has a unique voice, inherent creativity, and art is a wonderful medium to learn to trust that voice, discover that voice without the constraints of rules or perfection.
Just a little of the spirit of why I do what I do...maybe, just maybe inspire our children to trust that innovative voice within and become a creative leader in the future...

weekday weave

:: Remembering the magical creations our Saturday morning class made in 'kinetic sculpture' and 'wearable art' inspired by Alexander Calder and Maryann Talia Pau.

:: Taking time to celebrate an anniversary

:: Reminding my children how to treat one another and delighting that art is how they choose to be reminded.

:: planning a much anticipated splash-fest for a recently-turned-8yr-old!

:: Immersing ourselves in circle+oval shapes

:: Enjoying new designs

:: having these props arranged + re-arranged by my curious little helpers as we plan our two weeks of diorama's in the Saturday morning inspiration series!

:: Loving the feel of this wool between my fingers at any available moment!

EASTER HOLIDAY WORKSHOPS ARE HERE!

I am a bit behind in posting this weekend due to the bustle of classes and marketing preparation ...here are the dates for the Holiday Workshops! I will be updating the website, venues + hopefully you'll see flyers in a school near you through this week!

It is with great excitement that we release the dates for the WEAVE+WONDER Easter Holiday art+craft+books workshops!

These holiday workshops have been extremely popular and we have so enjoyed meeting and working with your children.
At WEAVE+WONDER, our goal is to nurture and inspire creativity in each child through the work of Great Artists, outstanding literature and innovative art projects!
We offer two wonderful venues who fully support our creative endeavours and enjoy hosting you for coffee+cake or to browse for that perfect book while your children are creating!

Over the two weeks of Queensland state school holidays, we are offering 6 workshops.
In the first week, the classes offered at Riverbend Books + Teahouse and the Gallery Cafe, Carindale are the same two classes.

Mon 2nd April: Gallery Cafe - Egg painting+clay - all about Easter!
Wed 4th April: Gallery Cafe - nest weaving + more clay - partner class with Mon 2nd.

Tues 3rd April: Riverbend Books+Teahouse - Egg painting+clay - all about Easter!
Thurs 5th April: Riverbend Books+Teahouse - nest weaving + more clay - partner class with Tues 3rd.

Thurs 12th April: Riverbend Books + Teahouse - Circles in Nature theme - acrylic on canvas!
Fri 13th April: Riverbend Books + Teahouse - Circles in Nature theme - paint+stitching mixed media work!


For more creative inspiration + class preparation, please take a look at our website www.weaveandwonder.blogspot.com or like us on Facebook to follow our journey!

We'd love to have you join us for these classes and bring a friend!
They always book fast, please email melissa@guyatt.net for bookings.

anticipation

'Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.' Camille Pissarro

It is with great anticipation that we are gathering from nature and inspired by the season to offer our immensely popular holiday art+craft+books workshops. Bookings will be open soon for our themed holiday classes - watch this space for more details - COMING VERY SOON!

weekend wanderings

I love this 'underneath' space at Riverbend books + Teahouse - just perfect for a children's art studio - light + airy, plenty of room to spread out and make a bit of mess + noise!

We had a wonderful beginning to our underwater inspiration series 1 on Saturday morning! The children were a delight and with a smaller group, there was much group banter, discovering things in common, lots of sharing stories and chatter! Working with our now-familiar log-pedistal as a platform for sculptural masterpieces, the children formed magical underwater gardens using their favourate sea creatures hidden in textured finger coral!

We had a visual feast of natural sea treasures, energised with fluro accents - just perfect to conjour a vibrant coral playground!

We read 'the hidden forest' by Jeanie Baker - a wonderful catalyst for conversation about scary, slimy and sensational underwater creatures!

And can you believe, I was so engaged with the children and their amazing creations that I completely forgot to take some pics of their work - will need to request some shots from parents I think! I just know you would love the amazing octopus + turtle + creatures hidden in a giant shell that they came up with - the result of imagining big + taking the time to create what they see with their mind's eye! An excellent first morning all round!