Gallery: painting, puppets and potions

Now that we have the "holiday" version of Gallery posted, I can share some of the regular everyday creating that's happening around here.

This, in case you aren't sure, is the back of Frodo's head. Painting by Ani. I love this painting.

Before getting to all the shirts at Christmas, we had a practice stenciling session in November with some friends who were visiting for a few days. Eliza cut this skull stencil free-hand and made it into a patch that is still looking for a home. I think this purple skull would look pretty right-on on my back-pack...

I was inspired to make my friend ET a present for her birthday - it must have been leftover Christmas crafty juice or something, as her birthday falls the day after, but wow, it hit me and it's how I spent the entire day until we went over to her house for dinner.

It's a puppet theater, which is really what every 42-year-old needs, right? 

Eliza painted the background pieces for me - there is this seaside sunset and a glittery night scene as well as a plain blue sky.  And of course there are puppets.

Brooding men and gorgeous women, and a tall, mysterious feather...what could they all be doing?

Fighting off giant swallowtail caterpillars, perhaps?

The "art room", as we are calling it, was a gift from my sister and her husband - she knew we'd been thinking of turning the play/guest room into a space where art messes could be made and left for a while, where works in progress could safely stay out without getting disturbed, and where art supplies could stay out and accessible for when the mood strikes.  One foldable table, one drop cloth and one huge set of shelving later...behold the art room.  Between making presents and the usual flow of crafting that goes on around here, this room is getting used.

 (I love how the three paintings below are starting out so differently...)

Eliza: Hey! Look how much more like the sea it looks when I use dots!

Ani's glittery butterfly

And the latest project this room was used for during a friend's visit, was the making of potions. It was a regular apothecary in there.  Bottles holding medicinals and magicks with names like Red Rizeing, Gang Green, Cast Awae currently line one of the shelves.

Gallery: making gifts

So many gifts given (and received) were handmade this year, and I've been waiting until they've been opened to share some glimpses of the ones we worked together on.  First, though, Eliza made her sister a journal - a cloth-covered book that she found instructions for in the Daring Book for Girls. She did a beautiful job, sequestered in our bedroom while she created.

A long week (that fell waaaaaay too close to Solstice and Christmas for comfort!) was spent as a family making stencils for shirts, scarves and a bag! Phew! It was luckily also a lot of fun to do.  The girls mostly designed the shirts, while Dan and I did the cutting and ironing of the stencils, and everyone painted.

Dan and Ani discussing a tricky design

Ironing freezer paper designs to the shirts

Dan and Ani drove to West Virginia to the closest mini-metropolis for supplies while I was sick. Yes, they saved Christmas around here. One of my requests was for some cotton jersey knit for making simple scarves. Cut the swath, create the design, and voila - a scarf.

Chickadee-dee-dee

The designs were mostly of dragons. Or birds. With the exception of this little alien that Dan duplicated from an old shirt advertising his brother's band from the early 90's.

Waiting for paint to dry before removing the paper

Stencil in place, waiting for paint

A scarf for my mama

Oh yes, and there was this giant, fire-breathing chicken, which is probably my favorite design of all, made by Dan for his Dad. The train tracks are a nod to his Dad's love of trains...

 Most of my photos are pretty lousy - the light in the art room is great for working in but not so great for photography, but we wanted a record of what we created!

Chickens by Ani

 There are many tutorials on how to do this available on the internet; just google "freezer paper stencils" and you'll find dozens.  There was a bit of trial and error for us - we used paint we hadn't used before and found that the new colors were not as "fast" as the plain black, and some of it washed away.  Live and learn for the next time.

One of Ani's dragons with some wintry details added by me

a bag for a lucky cousin

Um...a groove-billed Ani. Look it up. It's unique, right? One of a kind?

I think the best part was that it was like a little elf factory in our art room and even though one of the four of us was sick (we rotated), everyone pitched in and added another coat of paint, helped iron on designs, or wrapped and wrote cards.  Making, together.

finally cold

 Yep, we got snow! And yep, the girls made an attempt at sledding!  Sigh...

 Most of our days this week have been cozy...making forts, reading, playing games...

When moods got moody yesterday there was a bit of a forced march (can you see Eliza sulking in the background? Mmmmhmmm.), but it ended up good for each of us, which was the point.

 Then home again for more crocheting on the rug, some more reading of Wise Child, and hot chocolate. We are also listening to Children of the Lamp by P.B. Kerr.  (Here is the post with some instructions on how to make a crocheted rug like this!)

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I wanted to share a gift we were given from our boy cousins in Wisconsin - a board game made just for us! We played it on New Year's Eve...

 Traveling through the forest, caves, mountains, and over the sea, each adventurer must gather armor, cloaks, scepters and a ring and make it around the board, without getting captured by goblins or buried under falling rocks, or, in sight of home, falling asleep against a comfy tree!

 This is a perfect adventure for these adventure-loving, Tolkien-reading girls.

thank you!!

birds of the new year

 We welcomed the new year yesterday with a hike, and along the way encountered our "first birds of the year", a tradition we've followed since we lived in Seattle. Before we left home, as I was resolutely ignoring the chirping outside our living-room window, Dan claimed the sparrow at our feeder as his bird.  I'll have to press him for more specifics on what kind it might have been - my bird for 2011 was a song sparrow and as we create the rules for this particular tradition, I was determined not to have the same bird twice in a row, though there is much to be valued in a sparrow.  Dan immediately began to expound on the constancy, and steadfastness of the sparrow, the survival instincts and reliability of its presence at our winter feeder.  The girls and I were foolishly hoping for something a little flashier, and they literally covered their eyes on the short drive to the park.

Turkey Vulture, Crow, Sparrow, and a whole flock of Blue Jays down in front

I saw a predictable sight above the ridge in town - turkey vultures circling over the trees. Sigh. I love turkey vultures, but I'm not sure what it is I'm supposed to be learning from them in this new year. My Folklore of Birds says that the turkey vulture was considered by some Native American cultures to have been a deity, charged with carrying souls into the next world. Its reputation varies widely from culture to culture: many see them as bad omens, but to the Egyptians they were a symbol of maternity and purification, and were thought to protect the queens of Egypt. Hm. There's something there - and Eliza and I have always felt an affinity for the big black shapes passing through our view. Our little community is home to hundreds of turkey and black vultures. 

Turkey and black vultures gathering by the river

 Maybe Dan and I will balance each other out this year - the same book says that the sparrow is "a supernatural messenger and a foreteller of good luck",  according to the Chinese.  Eliza caught sight of a crow before we got to the park, which she accepted with good humor - Dan has had the crow for the past two years.  I love crows - their intelligence, and adaptability - though you can find just as many stories of crows as tricksters as you can of the crow as a sacred, honored bird.  

Ani was really holding out, maybe hoping for a heron as we approached the lake, but knowing it would more likely be a flock of Canada geese.  We got out of the car and started down the road leading to the trailhead, and she was cocking her head, giving little "pshhh pshhh" calls to see if she could call someone in.

 She was soon rewarded when a flock of about 9 blue jays came cruising into the trees nearby, with a raucous merry jumble of cries, much like a group of super happy kids tumbling into a room, with an energy that is catching, unless, woe to you, you were hoping for a few minutes of silence.  They bounced from tree to tree, calling to us, worked up about something, and Ani grinned to have a new bird.  Folklore of Birds has this to say: Incessantly noisy and omnivorous, the gregarious blue jay is difficult to ignore...In the right light, this description is so very Ani - she wakes me with merry blue eyes and whispers (kind of), "I'm looking for a smi-ile" and there is really no way to ignore this child's happy chatter.

Our hike was so nice.  It warmed up enough for sweaters and hats to come off, then socks and boots for wading in the creek, only to have the wind whip up and rain come in while we were stopping for a snack. Sun, rain, and in-between.

We listened to the wind blowing and rattling the bare hardwoods, then turn to a hushhhhhhhhh as it hit the white pines.

 There is a denseness about the light through the pines. I could build a house here. ~Eliza

Smelling the pines, feeling the sun, then the rain, and the pull and slip of the mud, watching the changes on the lake, spying the winter fungus and lichen and moss, listening to the creaking of trees rubbing against each other and the occasional bird calls - we were out sensing the world, together. 

A happy new year...