Spontaneous Sketching

So far this year Friday's is my only day off work. Tilly and I spend Fridays together, just us girls. Next term, Tilly starts going to Pre-School 5 days a week! I am hoping that this will assist her with the transition to school next year. Spending a term getting used to 5 days, in a familiar environment. She is very ready for it, but boy am I going to miss our Fridays together.

On our final Friday as a duo, we decided to go to the National Gallery. Tilly has been spending much of her time sketching. Her drawings have become detailed and are providing an amazing insight into her thinking.

When drawing this one apparently the 'bobbies'
were the essential element to include.

We headed for the Sculpture Garden which, to me, is an amazing place to introduce children to 'formal' art. They can run, touch and explore the art, really connecting with it. I happened to have some paper and pencils with us and was delighted at the ways Matilda choose to explore and spontaneously sketch the sculptures in the space.

She first wanted to feel them with her body, but not by touching them. She copied the sculptures with her body, felt the positions, and then sat down to draw them. She would have one go, watch me as I had a go and then do another, refining her ideas and techniques.

She engaged in so many area and elements of the garden. The sun was shining, the Spring blooms were out. It was delicious.

Here are some of the ways she engaged with the space, spontaneously sketching...

Feeling the positions before drawing them.

Really looking, observing, studying before drawing 

Colour matching the pencils to the wattle

Her first wattle sketch

Noticing the shadows created by the sun and the wattle.
Asking me to hold it and then sketching the shadow in 'real colours'.

Watching her body move in the reflection

Playing with her reflection

Pure joy and self amusement at how her body gets distorted in the different angles of the sculpture.

Drawing her response to the experience.

After our garden visit, we went and had some lunch and meandered through the exhibitions. We got talking about John Pollock's techniques when he created the Blue Poles, the brush strokes and colour pallet Monet used and how Picasso was a "little mixed up". She had so many ideas. So much insight. So great to have a conversation with. 

She thought the plain white canvases were a 'bit funny - maybe they only had white paint left" and that the Pop Art pictures looked like ads, selling you something.

I am by no means educated in the way of artistic theory, but on this day we experienced 'art appreciation' that was authentic and joyful. I just love that I experienced it with a 4 year old.

9/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014."

Orlando: I feel like his is taking on a new stage of grown up-ness, but those eyes will always captivate me.

Matilda: We braved the rain, donned the glow sticks and went to view Enlighten. There was a 'Garden of Fire' that Tilly found mesmerizing.

Pair: Family shadow play, always a highlight of Enlighten... this time to the back drop of political cartoons!

Joining with Jodi

Holiday Habits

Many parents find school holidays long and draining, I LOVE them. I look forward to them with all my heart. Time to just be, catch up on life, slow down and re-connect.

I have found that over the last year or two we have created some Holiday Habits or rituals. It has meant that everyone still feels like life is full of goodness, while we slow to a calmer pace. These habits don't exclude other things happening, or are they essential elements, more thoughts that influence our weeks together.

I thought with this summer holiday being the longest of the bunch, I might share with you some of our habits and hope it helps you enjoy the last two weeks before the routines and timetables kick back in...

(I've just had the thought that maybe these habits are more my way of 'organising' my down time to feel comfortable.... I'll think more on that...)

Habits... Each holiday we...

- Organise Playdates - particularly with new budding friendships. Where a one-on-one day can really boost the momentum. Holidays also provide the opportunity for extended play, we live a decent drive away from school, so most of our play dates are at friends houses. The holidays are a great time to have people come to us.

- Cook delicious things - Both the kids scour the cookbooks and select their choice (free reign) of something delicious to bake, often something we wouldn't usually cook.


- Excursions - Canberra is FULL of great and often free places to go and visit. The kids put in their choice of the place they want included in their holiday happenings. Sometimes this is a full day journey, others as simple as a favourite park.

- Movies - We look at the up coming movies and treat ourselves to a family movie adventure (Dad usually takes a long lunch on this day)

- Art Projects - Although we do a lot of art exploration most days, in the holidays each of the kids picks a special art project to work on. One holiday it was a mosaic, this holiday it has been beading, others a canvas for their room. 

- Gardening - Again something we do often, but this is often the time that we get into a garden project together. A new garden bed, the re-visioning of an old bed, a new playspace etc.


- Going Bush - My favourite :) We make a day a week (if not more) to spend in the bush, by the river, find a beach, go for a bush walk, anywhere as long as it is outside and there is space to explore and play.
These habits keep our holidays pretty full. They also give the kids a sense of ownership on their down time. Some control, but also provide many rich opportunities for me to be deeply engaged with the kids and give them my full attention. Which I believe is worth all the money in the world.

There is also the delicious long mornings and realising it is lunch and we are all still in our PJ's :)

What do you embrace in the holidays? Has your family formed any rituals? Please share!

Secret Spots...

As a child I had secret spots...

Spots to go an hide, play, sit. 

We had forts. There was a stone fort, a wood fort, a forest fort and.... I forget the other. But all four of us would build a 'home' in our fort and then battle off against each other. It made for hours of fun! 

We also had dams. In the dams we would swim, make floating platforms, catch yabbies, construct dams in the inflow streams, ant villages in the water (they couldn't escape if surrounded by water). I remember one ant village was so elaborate it took 6 children 2 weeks of school holidays to build, mend and tend.

We had LONG grass. Wonderful for hide and seek. Or to lay in and feel that you are in a different world.

We had chooks. I wasn't so keen on them, but I cared for them anyway and now a home doesn't feel like home without them.

We spent our days outside exploring, creating, collaborating. Mum used to have this 'coo-eee' call that would let us know where ever we were on the 25 acres that it was time to head back to the house for some (probably boring) reason.

I have yearned deeply for my children to experience the same freedom. I have worried that in living in suburbia, they wouldn't get the same opportunity. I have worried that in this new world of fear, I wont let them have that same freedom. I also worried that other children are missing out on these freedoms. To explore create and be children... without the watchful eye of an adult.

To my GREAT JOY I have discovered otherwise. Being school holidays here at the moment we went for a walk down to the park. We decided to go to a different park than we usually do. On the way we saw 6 different groups of children down at the local nature reserve playing. Exploring, up to their knees in mud. Tackling each other in a game of ruff and tumble on the grass. Climbing trees, making cubbies, daming the creek with rocks and sticks. Delightfully there was not an adult in sight (other than me of course :)) 

 

The late afternoon sun was shining and the kids were out playing. I stopped a moment to watch some boys at the creek and they noticed me and said "Our mum's said it was OK..." I replied "I think it's wonderful! looks like your making some real progress with the rocks" They smiled, took a breath and got back into it.

Orlando said "Where are their parents?" I told him that when you get old enough you can go exploring by yourself. He was rather impressed.

He then suggested that maybe instead of the park we could find a place at the creek to play. I had always seen this creek as a storm water run off... but originally it was a natural creek. So we explored and now we have found our own secret spot.

We have been down there 4 times already. We have cleaned out any rubbish that was there. Used some clippers to trim the bushes and made a nice spot to sit. We have put stepping stones in good places so that we can get across the creek.

All the time it was right under our noses and we had never seized the opportunity! It is really quite beautiful down there and best of all I get to sit in the warm winter sun while the kids play, explore, create, engage.

Many more a trips we will have to our secret spot... we may even bring a friend one time... or when they are big enough... leave me at home!!

10/52

This week is Canberra's 100th Birthday. There are many festivities happening. Last night we enjoyed the STUNNING Enlighten Festival, where designs are projected onto some of Canberra's Iconic buildings.  It is a visual spectacular! The kids prepared with an afternoon sleep and stayed up until 10:30! It was a beautiful night that we all enjoyed... 

 "A Portrait a week of my children, every week in 2013"

Matilda: Feeling the lights change colour and watching her own shadow
Orlando: Dancing to the music and enjoying the light on his body

Just a taste of some of the beautiful festival projections....

The Portrait Gallery

Questacon

The National Library

Questacon