Painting

Painting. Finger or brush?

That is the question.

Dockside

We took our new painting kits down to the dock at 'our' lake. The colours of the trees where the sun was shining were so golden and radiant. The colours where the sun was hidden by the clouds were so intense and dark. We tried our hand and each side, trying to capture the feel as well as what we saw.

There was a little multi-tasking going on. The kids also brought their fishing rods with them, plunging their hooks in the water and while waiting for a nibble they painted. They make me laugh. For them it made perfect sense. Just like talking on the phone and crocheting or a movie and felting work for me I guess.

Nature as Art

We lucked out by unknowingly moving to an area full of artists. Our seasonal neighbour happens to be a painter, who has also designed a program for introducing and encouraging art for kids. This afternoon he brought his program, another neighbour (new to us) and her daughter over for the afternoon.
The program draws attention to the connection of nature and art. The art in eARTh, how beauty and art is all around us. His program; called Look See Paint, takes you from just looking at nature to really seeing the detail, the small, the big, the lines, the connection we have. He then gave an inspiring and beautiful talk about individuality, authenticity and expressions being art. We definitely felt more than able to create beauty with our brush. That alone is a gift.
Next we were guided through watercolour, learning some techniques in blending, brush strokes, etc as fundamentals, but still remembering that the art is already within us.
View finders were given to each of the artists to use as a tool to See nature as a canvas. We played with depth and distance. We would have painted outside next, the rain had us back inside unfortunately. The next hour was spent playing with what we saw on paper.
We were not only gifted with a great afternoon, our friend gave each of us a kit for outdoor painting. Monday, if the rain holds off, we are heading to 'our' beach for a painting session.

Art Around the Table

It was pouring rain yesterday morning, providing the perfect timing to pull out some of our art supplies. I was inspired by this activity , using different art materials to sketch the same subject spoke to me. We choose to use an apple as our subject in the centre of the table. At different stations around the table I set up four different mediums; charcoal, oil pastels, water colour paints and graphite sketching pencils. We rotated around the table, each having a tour with each of the supplies and sketching from a slightly different perspective.

These art supplies aren't new for the us, but using them consecutively really allowed us to see the contrasts and similarities in them. We mounted the four sketches, everyone really pleased with how they turned out.

Some Iced Tea with your Art?

We live in a hub of Artists. Painters, metal workers, glass blowing, tile work, textile- all of it within a few minutes drive. Every year this group of Artists have an open house, to demonstrate their craft and the work they produce. One of these artists is our neighbour. We went to have a look and his work, which is mostly oil paintings focusing on nature and interacting with it. We saw a few of the artists. It was a beautiful way to casually take in some of the fabulous art work.
The art was enjoyed, but the big hit? taking advantage of the higher than normal traffic by selling treats and iced tea! The plans are even bigger for next year!

Outdoor Art- Saying Yes

The heat of summer is a welcome addition. Finally. With it comes out door painting. The easel finds a spot under a tree, the paint brushes have a permanent place on the porch and the sprinkler is positioned for an easy, fun clean up. We have a few 'classic' favorites we like to try each year. Paper mache is at the top of the list. It is one of those crafts that to be fully enjoyed is best done on the grass near a hose.
Flicking paint is another favorite. Swinging your brush so that the paint sprays every where is so satisfying, the result so colourful.
Bingo dabbers, murals, clay, body prints, are a few others. The space of the outdoors gives me the courage to say yes more often than not.

Tiny Grains of Sand

This morning we spent our time at the beach. There were a few other people fishing, including us, but no one else braving the beach and the cool water. Temperatures never seem to deter the kids from building in the sand. Towers, moats, magical worlds. I remember spending time creating this way too as a kid, and still today.
We have some new inspiration for our beach creations from this Iranian artist; Ahmad Nadalian. He creates these amazing prints using a hand carved tool he has made, then creating a beautiful pattern in the sand. Its been so interesting talking about art in different mediums, the sand wasn't a surface we thought of for art. Definitely worth checking out.

Together

Friday nights, especially as so many have been rainy ones (did I mention all this rain), we have been enjoying family drawing time. Some nights its more fancy; water colours or charcoal, acrylic on material, other nights its just plain old crayons and poster paper. Occasionally our drawing time has a theme or a focus; designing place mats, experimenting with a technique, observational drawing. Either way, it's been fun. The kids get a kick out of Chris and I giving it a go, and it's one of those things that transcends all of our ages.

(the yummy snacks have been a bonus too !)