paint cut paste

on our last day of vacation in the outer banks of north carolina, N found some reeds in the dunes. then she said six words that are music to my ears: “let’s make art out of this!” (i love that she says this A LOT.)

indeed we did, and the creation was all her idea. N said, “can we take this home on the plane? and when we get home, i want to make a pen out of it!” we smuggled the reeds home, and almost immediately upon arrival, we got them out and pondered how to make her pen.

i let her decide how to create this. she asked for a real pen and a feather. we found a ballpoint pen (to take apart) and N chose a feather from our stash.

she had great fun destroying the ballpoint pen to get to the inkwell inside.

she slipped the ink well inside of the longest reed she had. then we put a dot of elmer’s glue inside the other end of the reed to hold the feather in place.

it sure does make a sweet addition to her art materials. the best part of this is that the project was entirely kid-centered and kid-initiated. she sourced materials, thought of the idea, executed, and takes so much pride in the final product.

now if we could just keep the cats from pouncing and chewing on the feather, especially as it’s flitting around while she draws… (speaking of our kitties – happy 10th birthday to one of our kitties today!!!)

as you know from our recent post, we spent some time along the lovely beaches of the pacific over memorial day weekend, and gleaned a few treasures in our beachcombing. N has always been obsessed with holding and running around with sticks (safe, huh?) so she’s a natural at finding nice driftwood, bringing it to me, and saying, “we have to make art out of this!!!” so what’s a mom to do? make art!

we sorted our findings in the backyard and were inspired by the driftwood, (and of course by the lovely stones we used in the rock picture holder post! i’m still obsessed with making those!)

N decided that she wanted to paint some of the driftwood like we did last summer, ginette lapalme style and create a mobile from them. first, we got some exposure to the power drill, to drill holes across the top of a long piece of driftwood and in the ends of five short pieces. N marked the stick first to show where she wanted the holes to go.

then we were ready to paint, al fresco!

the two of us had so much fun striping these wooden sticks.

as we painted, we chatted about the wood and “what colors it was telling us that it wanted to have on it.” one of N’s pieces wanted light pink at the bottom (which she learned to mix for herself) because it looked like a ballerina’s slipper.

we let the sticks dry in the sun – so very pretty! (i’m a sucker for rainbows and natural materials.)

after the sticks were dry, we laid out a plan for the mobile. the next morning, a pj-clad N helped to thread the cord through the sticks, a rock, and a couple shells.

i used knots to secure everything in place.

the whole family is smitten with the outcome of this project…

so much so that we chose to hang it in our tall stairwell so we can enjoy seeing it from all angles, watching it twirl around.

i’m in love with the shamanic look of this piece – now i feel like we need to make more of them as gifts and for our backyard!

how i just love those cheap, clear glass ornaments you can get at michael’s (or practically anywhere!) there are so many fun things you can do with them. last year we swirled metallic paint inside of them. this year, we decided to do it up fancy-style by stuffing them with all sorts of fun things!

N and i got our ornaments ready by labeling each one with one of her classmate’s names on the tray where it sits, so we could tell them apart since they were soon to be personalized.

then we got out a bunch of stuff from our art cabinet, such as feathers, seed beads, sequins, glitter, foam letters, tinsel, and fuzzy pom-poms. (tiny toys, figurines, shredded paper, leaves, dried flowers, etc could be great in here, too — let your imagination run wild!)

N found the first letter of the name of each of her classmates and we put the foam letter in the ornaments first.

then she carefully considered the colors and things that each of her friends would like, and we went through the materials type by type until each person’s ornament was full of fancy holiday cheer!

a tip for adding glitter, seed beads, or other tiny items – use a small funnel.

i tied ribbons to each one so they can be hung on a tree (or in a bedroom windown year-round, perhaps.) we will package them up safely and give them out at preschool when winter break nears. (hope this didn’t spoil it for any of you parents in her class. sorry )

i recently chanced upon this inspirational photo of these lovely sticks by an artist named ginette lapalme.

ginette's sticks

we had some sticks and driftwood hanging around our backyard, just waiting to become art materials… and i’d been thinking on it for a few days. i’m also reading a book on the shamanic tradition of holding council, which involves a talking piece – usually a stick. i’ve been dreaming about finding and embellishing a talking stick for my family and also for my work with clients. then blamo! – this picture finds me. the internet is so cool like that – providing serendipitous encounters and answers. anyway, the fire was lit under me, so i showed N the photo to share the fire, and we gathered up our things: sticks, acrylics, brushes, palette, water jar, rag.

perhaps sticks we had won’t necessarily become future talking sticks, but i set out without that intention – just wanting to enjoy art for art’s sake and the fun of painting whimsical stripes and such on a natural canvas. while i worked on a big stick, N had so much fun with the smaller ones.

she talked all the while about how she’d never done this before, and how she loves all of the new art ideas i come up with for us to do — how sweet to hear! (incidentally, she told me i am the best artist in alaska… which was flattering and all, but we’ve never even been there. ) it was a playful art-making session.

N's "ocean sparkle" stick

when working with natural materials, i like to (and this may get too woo-woo for some of you, but bear with me) have a dialog with the stick, rock, shell, etc. about what it would like to become. i feel like nature’s form really can dictate the lines, shapes, and colors, if we mindfully engage with it, observe, listen, and trust our instincts about the artistic choice we are making. i did this as i worked on painting my sticks, and i introduced this concept to N as we painted. children are such absolute naturals when it comes to creating such a dialog, storyline, conversation – they are not self-conscious and are so genuinely connected to nature, so it comes easily. as adults, we have often lost that ability, and work to reclaim it.

the collection (sticks and stones)

besides having tons of fun together, the visual results were magical.

my "heart chakra" driftwood

the most magical aftermath of all…

our artist hands

when out for a little walk around the ‘hood yesterday, N began to collect natural treasures, as these little people often do. since she’s pretty into sticks and wands and her seasonal altar, making a medicine wand from her gatherings seemed like a fun idea.

medicine wands are traditionally used by native american cultures in spiritual ceremonies. generally, they include a feather, as well as sticks, leaves, flowers, crystals, or any other natural object that holds energy or meaning for a person. kids might enjoy making and playing with these wands, or placing them on their altars and using them to create sacred space. during our walk, we gathered red leaves, a green magnolia leaf, some twigs, a tiny pinecone, clover, and flowers.

when we got back home, we grabbed some yarn (any string works,) scissors, and a feather from my craft stash, since we didn’t find a feather outside, and honestly i’m a bit weirded out by avian flu and whatnot on feathers, regardless. (should i be?) traditionally, i think the feather should be the largest object with all other things placed on top of it, but our feathers were small, and took the front spot in the “medicine bouquet” as N called it.

it was tricky to gather them all together and hold them while tying yarn on it, and since my little shaman was galloping through the yard, embodying a horse spirit by this point (see photo above,) i was left to my own devices to tie it up, so i relyed on a clothes pin to hold things in place while winding the yarn tightly around the base.

it should cover about two inches or so at the bottom of the “bouquet.” you can tie the string in the front or the back, depending on your preference. i stuck an extra feather on top as i tied the last knot, which is why you can’t see my two inches of yarn in the picture below.

after you’ve created it, just hang your medicine wand upside down to dry for a few days.

enjoy the healing properties of the earth! happy earth-day month!