exhale...

Please forgive the short absence from this space, these last days were all about pausing...exhaling...and savoring the beauty of family and feasting on the sensational winter weather!
I find pauses in the steamtrain of life can bring such refreshing if we can drink deep and with longing to savor: the vibrant blue sky, the warmth of the sun and the contrasting cool and chill when the sun hides its face...
It was with such longing that we scampered away for a few days of rest and relaxation. The location was such a stimulation to the senses that we were all revived and refreshed for the days ahead. Beware...lengthy photographic record to follow!

I held my breath in awe as I watched the sun crown the morning. I have never before witnessed such a symphony of light, held most entranced by the sea mist rising to welcome the sun.

:: My eldest was drawn to the theatre as well with pencil and sketchbook in hand, the glow of beauty reflected off her face as she drew what she experienced...[I encourage all my children + students alike to carry a sketchbook+pencil + just try and capture moments like these - this one required no prompting from me!]

:: As the sun rose, so did the call to tumble downstairs from here...

:: ...to here, and the heated pool+spa perched on the sand.

:: as soon as feet hit the sand, heads were down so as not to miss a single perfect shell treasure! [I'll post some beautiful ideas soon on ways to make art with found treasures]

:: collected in shoes!

:: as evening fell, we wandered again...

:: amid spontaneous long jump competitions...

:: slow fishing rhythms

:: and bathed in the soft, soft sunset kisses

:: we breathed deeply of the cool, inspiring, invigorating salt air and carried a whole heartful of this beauty home with us into our everyday...

What do you do to restore and revive? Creativity thrives in unexpected moments of beauty, often found when we are in unfamiliar environments, eyes wide to the wonder around us. Even if it is just a wander to your local park, re-energise and shift your focus...and see what creativity follows in your world, and in your little ones!

Watch this space for exciting new classes coming soon and thank you for your patience in this lengthy reflection - hope it inspired you to seek beauty somewhere unexpected in your everyday! xx

the beauty of birds

Our final school holiday workshop was full and busy!
Our conversation centred around the kinds of birds we might see in our neighbourhood - the children had much to add to the lively discussion!

We looked at some amazing artwork by Anna Wili Highfield, an Australian artist who makes sculptures of native birds out of paper! Do check out her website for more extraordinary creations:

Any good project begins with planning and the children pondered their favourite birds on paper before they launched into making them in 3D!

The children were fairly nervous in their approach to the technique of folding and binding and making, as they mastered one bird, the next seemed to come more naturally.

As the children gathered their 'flocks' our job became a bit labor intensive as we threaded birds on invisable string to hang on their choice of branch or pinecone. I can just imagine flocks of beautiful birds swaying gently in the winter breeze as they found their way home....

[this class was so hands-on, I regretfully was unable to slip in some photos, making do with my daughter's creations viewed at home after the class! Thanks so much to my dear friends Caroline and Bek for helping in the classes and snaping the beautiful photos of previous workshops - I couldn't have done it without you xx]

monoprint magic!

Wow! Tuesday's was an intensly busy painting class! The children inspired me with their wonderful grasp of a new technique and their layered creations were textured and beautiful! We wandered through a 'bushwalk' story, imagining colours, textures, creatures and scenes we might come across and added to our inspiration with works from famous monoprint artist, Edgar Degas, and other beautiful works of printed art!
We began painting with a very basic monoprint using a single colour and a cotton bud to scratch the design into the paint. We then worked with textures we might find around the home with repeat patterns, muffin tins, bubble wrap, netting, corrugated card to print onto our fabric and watercolour paper a background. As this dried, we worked quickly with multiple colours to paint a design of the child's own choosing onto the acrylic surface, pulling our final prints layered over the textural background. The signed works are abstract and beautiful! A special mention to all children in this class, your patience and manners while waiting for extra paint and a change of water was exceptional - great work young artists!

watercolour wonder

'Golden and red trees, nod to the soft breeze, as it whispers, 'winter is near'...A Fall Song (Ellen Robina Field)

water...watercolour paint needs lots of water...inspiring the children to grab what they might find around the home, coffee filters and newspaper. With a few tubes of primary colour and a little basic colour theory, they are on their way to blending colours!
Our inspiration last thursday involved leaf litter and glorious autumnal colour! Children learned about composition, background and foreground as they built up their collages with watercolour leaves, fabric and felt leaves and the odd ant + leaf-litter creature! Environmental artist, Andy Goldsworthy again and watercolour artist, Joseph Turner were our Great Artist inspiration:

'Spades take up leaves, no better than spoons, and bags full of leaves are as light as balloons'.... Gathering Leaves (Robert Frost)

fantastic fungi forest!

Oh My!! (I have been saying that a lot lately!) I was thrilled with the open-ended clay workshops held last week - the creations produced were so imaginative! I had a particular design in mind centred around clay mushrooms and moss and as each child used their own imagination, some gathered nature and applied techniques for working with clay, the resultant work was unique and beautiful!

We enjoyed inspiration from Andy Goldsworthy and french sculptor Franco Pompon, as well as brousing nature sculptures by various artists. We concluded our inspiration with a study of the many and varied shapes, textures and forms of fungi!! Exerpts from The Enchanted Wood (Enid Blyton) and Snugglepot + Cuddlepie (May Gibbs) whet the imagination and they were off...!

We concluded our time by 'exhibiting' our work to one another, telling the story of our creations - I was so inspired by the origionality and diversity of their work - planting the seed that each child is an artist when they produce something that is an expression of themselves!