Teaching Kids the Magic of Color
The long cold days of winter are the perfect time to delve a little deeper into a few things I’ve been meaning to teach the girls. One such topic is color theory, and while the girls have known how to mix and make various colors since they were tiny, there’s always room for practice. We [...]
Nana’s Portfolio
The special piece I mentioned in my previous post about handmade books is a portfolio of my grandmother’s artwork. When she passed away, we cleaned out her apartment and found her portfolio stashed away in the back of a closet. It was full of pieces she had completed when she studied fashion in art school [...]
Beginner Drawing Lessons, Part II
Welcome to the second lesson of this three-part series: Value In art, value refers to the darkness and lightness of color or tone. The variations in light and dark within a drawing are what will make it come to life. Have you ever noticed how an unexpected highlight on an object makes it really pop? [...]
Beginner Drawing Lessons, a Three-Part Series: Part I
NOTE: My apologies to those who subscribe in a reader. I accidentally hit “publish” in the middle of my first draft of this post. I deleted it immediately , but I think some of you still got the wonky post. Oops! Welcome to my Beginner Drawing Lessons, written with kids in mind, but perfect for [...]
Bringing the Oustide In
Come out for a tour of the girls’ bedroom, where butterflies alight, and doves fly. A place where roses unfurl no matter the season, daffodils bloom all year, and the sun shines every day. It’s a dreamy place to sleep and play
What To Do
We’re only a few days into summer vacation, and I have found myself scouring my favorite blogs and sites, looking for crafts to do with my girls a few times already. Turns out, there is a ridiculous amount of brilliant ideas and resources out there—tutorials, recipes, suggestions, and even more lists of things to do. [...]
Paintings From (not so) Long Ago
It’s nice to go back to art I made long ago, when my perspective was so different, yet still much the same. With each piece I revisit, I am transported to that time—where I sat, what I was listening to, how I was feeling, even the weather that day. Such strong associations with each work [...]
Learning
There’s been lots of learning going on around here. From raw food to instrument maintenance, our recent explorations have run the gamut. “A,” an avid jazz pianist, is learning to tune pianos. This is not the beautiful music we are used to hearing on a daily basis. This is a lot of bent notes and [...]
Linky Love, the First of 2010
Want to know what has inspired me lately? There are far too many different people, projects, articles, and art to mention, but here’s a (small) sampling of my recent favorites: First, Kate of Marmalade Moon has reviewed books on creativity AND she’s giving away one of my sterling silver bookmarks! Head on over to her [...]
Design in the Drink
This weekend we found design in some unlikely places—our drinks: Just-juiced fruits and veggies merged, then separated into a rainbow of layers. Before it was stirred, the chocolate syrup lay in heavy swirls on the bottom of a glass of milk. Where have you been finding design?
