home with heART

"Gold Day" at the museum

We're changing gears here, switching over from "summer" to "fall."  Because we take our time with most everything, it's a gradual process.  In the transition, I'm thinking about how we spent the summer.  And, you know, it was really, really lovely.  I think I always have a vision of what I want from summer.  I don't know that a lot of the pieces of that vision generally come to pass.  And -- that's really okay.  Each summer has a different flavor with different highlights.  But this year, I guess the stars were just aligned.  It was slow-paced (which I craved), but we did some things that were, well, just what our souls needed.  Book-ended by special trips, with camping in the middle, and all that glorious summer-themed reading I mentioned -- we also got art-y!

Our local museum threw open it's doors to families -- with a fascinating variety of entertainment, art & play activities, and featured art to make exploring the galleries just the right size for us.  It became our cherished weekly ritual.  And though I hadn't intended it, it gave our summer routine its' shape.

And, it made me more mindful to pull out (& keep out) art supplies again.  When Sela was small, there was a permanent art & writing area set up.  But as she grew, she outgrew this specific arrangement and things got put away -- because she would just get things out when she wanted them & we'd put them back into baskets, drawers, counters and cupboards when she was done.  And, for the materials that stayed out, it got to be that the legs of her tables and desks grew taller and taller (like the little table in Alice in Wonderland!).  Suddenly I realized that everything was up too high for Little Linus.

So, I'm trying to notice where I can shrink the legs on things again. And create these same fruitful areas for exploration for him -- so they're ready and waiting whenever it strikes him to draw or write or paint or cut or glue or squish or sticker or ...

Q-tips ("tiptoes," he calls them -- I love that he doesn't pause when he can't remember a word exactly, he just lets the closest thing he's heard come out and moves on) are very fun for little ones to paint with.  What else do I have lying around that we can use?  Marbles, toy car wheels, vegetables, packing bubbles, foam trays, the ends of cardboard tubes...

One project led to another -- all summer long.  We were inspired by Art & Max (if you haven't read, you really must), and we made string art one morning, using embroidery floss and a plate of glue.  Splatter painting was the follow-up request...

Sela and I participated in a local art center's community project.  We did our painting together, which was so much fun for me to share with her.  Our panel went up with over one hundred others to complete one large installation.

The kids picked up free canvases from our art store and the returned art was displayed in the store window.  We went by to check out our resident artist's "show" -- what a thrill!  (Linus decided to "only hang [his] at home.")

Do you have a local art scene?  I loved connecting with ours this summer!

This was our art haul from any given Friday,
from car to kitchen.