play time

del kathryn barton

"The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives." Einstein

It's play time, rest time, re-arrange the furntiture time, a few vain attempts to work out tech-issues-with-blogger time (my posts aren't getting updated in readers/email - hmph!), a touch of drink-and-be-merry time and even a bit of sleep time in these parts!

What kind of time are you spending in these last few moments of 2011?

the countdown calendar and a creative community

The countdown calendar got done! Phew!

I am personally looking forward to the 5th day before Christmas - it reads:

"paint mama & papa's toenails any colour, everyone get Dress-Up-Box dressed for a pancake & popcorn dinner!"

If you're interested in the painting above the fireplace - it's by local artist Marcia King. We bought it from a wonderful shop called can't think straight - just around the corner from us.

When I saw it - it immediately left a very deep imprint. I couldn't let it go. Some people find it very dark and then they look at it a little longer - a little harder - and see that it is quite the opposite. 

To me it says... 'we're all just feeling our way'.

I live in a small town full of creativity. I am reminded of it in the corners of my home.

That beautiful bird painting was created for us by our friend and artist Josh as a gift for a bit-of-a-celebration we had back in February (i'll write about it soon... it was insanely fun!). 

She's special that bird, don't you think? She Knows things! 

You can read more on Josh here and here.

The mortar and pestle were also gifted to us In Celebration by a group of very thoughtful women who know that I am quite taken by the works of local ceramicist Bridget Bodenham. The majority of her work is exquisitely fine - smooth - personal somehow. If you follow the link and see her spoons, you'll see that they have no place in a home that is shared with a 21 month old.... no way!

And the plates on the lower shelf - again gifted - and again by another very talented local ceramic artisan who forms a part of  Clayspace - Daylesford Region Ceramics Co-operative. If you're ever in the area - please visit them. Their very inspiring, beautiful space sits looking over this lake:

via

Yep - not a bad place to live at all....
~
Visiting: Kootoyoo's creative spaces

Loie Fuller - Danse Serpentine by Lumière Brother

Today The Girl dances.

blackout poetry

I was visiting artistic odyssey a few weeks back and came across a post on blackout poetry featuring the work of Tyler Knott.

It encouraged me to search for more ....

And when I did - i discovered Austin Kleon

I have to say...... there's something about blackout poetry. 

I love it!

It ignites curiosity - maybe a bit of intrigue - bit of cloak 'n dagger - revelation of code....

You know those movies where you get access to an underworld. 

Where you're driven through dark empty roads lined with very tall ominous trees. Usually you're in a limousine driven by someone who is very still, very silent and very faceless. 

There's music - it's unsettling.

And then you're driven up a very long driveway and at the end there's nearly always a mansion. All lit up and powerful against the dark. They're beautiful those mansions - just like the Siren's song.

But usually you're not really getting all this because you are - of course - blindfolded.

You're taken (by the faceless silent) through those towering doors - you're blindfold is removed.

And there it is - (you can fill this space with you're own imagery....)

For me, it's the thought:

"So! That's what's been going on behind these doors..... so that's what's Really been happening"

Blackout feels the same. 

Like you've been let in on a secret.

"So that's what's Really been going on behind those words! And all this time I though it was saying something entirely different"

via

And what a wonderful way to write horoscopes!

I think this process of creating poetry would be great for kids. Mine can't read yet - but just getting them to circle words then colour in the rest of the page..... well - it would be so interesting to see what they reveal.

I Could Die Looking at You

Listen to this man....
He sounds like Sunday.
He sounds like our place right now - where there's a three year old who turns four tomorrow.

There's a whole lot to celebrate in that Four!
For her and for us.
For us - well - this three-nearly-four-year-old took quite some time in the making.
It got hard.
It's not an uncommon story is it - but a story non-the-less....

And I'll share it with you one day -

But for now I'll say - when a kind stranger said to us "read This Book" - she changed our lives.
I wish I could tell her that.
I'll tell you instead.

Reminder

I have framed a drawing I did a while back.

Not because it's especially good.... But to act as a reminder.

A reminder that drawing - for me - is relaxing, meditative.... enjoyable.

At certain - particularly! -  busy times of life, these things get overlooked. Why we don't prioritise the things that are good for us is a reoccurring question.

We have two notebooks here, one for each of the girls, to record their observations and the wonderful quirkiness of their experimentation with language. One is completely blank as the youngest is still talking in a very unique and magical language Completely Of Her Own (oh what awaits those pages....)!
The notebook that belongs to our eldest has some beauties..

"the moon is awake and he's at my house!"
"strawberries..... don't eat strawberries!"

But then - this:

"Mama! I can't hear you, you're very busy cleaning!"

Oh.... Dear!

So - this framing has a few reminders stamped on it should I choose to see them. 

Drawing is pleasurable - Yes. Take time to do more of it - Yes.

And - if she and she and I all sit beside each other and draw together - well.... that speaks for itself.

.....just after I wipe the cereal from the table, change a nappy, wipe a nose, resolve a conflict, interpret, negotiate, feed.

It will happen - I'm-Sure-Of-It!

How about you? Anything 'written' on your wall? What does it say?

More Creative Spaces here.

Swimming lessons and a chlorine memory

Our eldest daughter had a swimming lesson on the weekend.

It's a big deal! She - like many little people her age - isn't too fond of getting water in her eyes......

As I watched her - my heart bursting as she sat so straight-backed and courageous on the pool step - surrounded by strangers and noise and splashes of water right into her eyes - doing her very best to do everything her teacher asked of her......

I was astonished to find myself blinking back tears.

Vicki Smith - via

Smell is powerful isn't it! 

That chlorine transported me hard and fast back to a memory from my own childhood swimming lessons.

via

I recall loving the free time we had at the end of a lesson. "Free Time for 15 minutes" called by the teacher was like a song.....

There was one lesson when I thought those words had been called - and in I dived.

The most wonderful freeing feeling of silence and weightlessness - I could stay down there for a long time and often did.

When I finally emerged I was met with the teacher yelling at me and a sea of faces staring.

Free Time had not been called. I had been disobedient. There would have to be punishment.

via

Punishment was sitting out on the bench while everyone else swam - but worse - my class mate's free time in the water had been cut short to a measly 5 minutes.... because of me.
"That'll teach her!"

via

It taught me - at the age of 7 - what shame felt like.... and the stinging heat of humiliation.
And now - it teaches me how heavy and full and lasting the words of adults are upon children.
The responsibility of it.
We all have to experience the weight of these feelings at some time - there will always be a first time - so perhaps it wasn't that this teacher was particularly unkind, but that this was my first time sitting alone with such strong emotion......

Vicki Smith - via

So as I sat there by the swimming pool watching my big girl's brave face - I knew how much I wanted to protect my girls from those feelings - Knowing at the same time - that I can't... and perhaps, shouldn't.

But we can help them to move through them as gently as possible, can't we?

My creative space

I'm not great at sewing! Really, really not great...

But I'm lucky - I like a rough edge. A raw, incomplete, irregular, surprising edge.

And I enjoy sewing.

I found some inspiration in Growing Up Sew Liberated (great title don't you think?). 

The project - seen here - that I (sort of) followed, uses numbers instead of letters, straight edges instead of....., colourful fabric cut-outs instead of basic outlines, pegs and branches instead of velcro and double sided tape.

But I'm happy with my adaptation. And sometimes my 3-nearly-4 year old is too.

I don't have a strong interest or inclination toward 3 years olds learning the alphabet. The world for them is pretty big on sensory stimulation and learning as it is.

In growth

In relating to their surroundings and to others

In themselves

In play - most importantly 

In Play

But providing opportunity in learning, as opposed to the possible anxiety of expectation, certainly has weight for me.

At the moment our letters are used as tools for actions. 

Play, Dance, Fun, Make, Cake

Or a friend's name

The letters themselves aren't of much interest as yet - except that it's fun to put them in different spots, and feel their texture, and hide them.

And when that interest evolves and grows into something else, these rough edged - sewn with love - softly textured letters will be waiting..... well, at least the ones that haven't been hidden too well!

What's been happening in your Creative Space?

Hair

The biggest of the littles asked for her hair to be cut.
The hair that has never seen a blade and has been with her from the day she was born.
The ends of those locks stood like shocks on her beautiful little head when she was just days old.

Nearing four it hung as far as her lower back.
Was always a talking point. Hurt her at bath time.

I twisted it - held my breath - and sliced it away.

We were never interested in cutting it. Cutting seemed to presume styling - of some sort.
Let the childhood last.

She loves her new hair. Her easy to brush, easy to wash, not-talking point hair.
Her own big-girl-decision hair.

We're learning to.

Little People

The biggest girl of the littles can draw people.

People!

Just like that! From wild, colourful, creative scribbling - to people. 

Just-like-that!

I'm all heart-swelled and bursting. 

But it's not the 'ability' of what she can do - No. 

It's the wonderment. Hers and Mine 

Her expression. Her adventure. That is giving me those parent-as-proud-as-punch delights.

And I love that it all constantly changes.

"I don't know how to draw love hearts anymore mama - But I can draw Pillows!"