The Bird's Nest

These days it really isn't easy tempting your child away from electronic gadgets. My boys are quite fond of both the iPad and the Xbox. I am not that keen that they should spend so much time playing on what is essentially a 2d square illuminated babysitter. It's bad enough that we as adults spent 9 years of our lives watching TV, with many of these programmes being pretty dire. But at least my generation grew up without all the digital distractions keeping us away from important social interactions, exploratory play, nature and friendships. Don't get me wrong, the internet surely is a good thing and has brought the world into our sitting rooms...but we shouldn't abandon the hands on, the creative, the discussion, the physical handling of materials, the glueing, the sticking, the getting hands dirty part of child development.

Here is a little report from a Danish child psychologist with 4 good reasons why you shouldn't let the iPad babysit your 3-5 year olds. I know it's in Danish, but it is based on the book "The Big Disconnect” by Catherine Steiner-Adair. And it makes sense. It tells of the need to explore in 3D and to touch, feel and rearrange, to discuss and ask for help from siblings and parents, to imagine, to smell, to use small motor skills.

The Blog posting provoked a lively discussion with a clear for and against electronic babysitters. Of course, it's a complex issue, and at the end of the day it's up to parents to decide what is best for them and their children. But I certainly know from my own boys, that, yes, they really enjoy playing on the iPad, but when they have their heads stuck 5 inches away from the screen, there is little interaction or communication between us and them.

I suppose a balance has to be reached between parents/carers and their children. With parents increasingly busy with work and their daily chores, it's all too easy to forget that children can become so engrossed in the digital world. I hope in future parents don't end up regretting how much time their children spent hunched over an iPad. After all, childhood is but a fleeting and precious time...

Last weekend I decided to lure BB away from digital distractions and enter the arty, sticky world of collage. Sadly I couldn't tempt no. 1 son, but at least he did watch the fun and see the mess we made....

BB initially made a lot of sighing and huffing, but quickly got into it and enjoyed seeing the progress we made. He started off by cutting strips of words in an old book, strips off coloured magazine pages, which we stuck on a map glued to a piece of card.  

We glued the eggs in place and continued layering it, scrap of paper after paper, including some torn  tissue. Then added a few old buttons...

And there you have it,"The Bird's Nest" by Mother and Son Alton...BB was quite proud. We debated colours, tones, how the glue affects different thickness paper, and how light would shine on the twig to give depth, when adding enough was enough, and all whilst we got stickier and stickier...

An iPad doesn't yet have the ability to tickle all the 5 senses, but on the other hand, looking at artists and their work on-line can perhaps motivate a child to have a go themselves.

This project was inspired by a representational collage in the current issue of Cloth Paper Scissors.

Our rainy Sunday

So, what to do on a rainy day? Being inspired by our holiday visits to galleries, and also yesterday seeing BB's Godfather, Keith Pettit, exhibiting his wonderful wood engravings at The Hive in Lewes, the boys got their heads down to do a spot of 'arting'.

Meanwhile the rain did pour and pour....

For BB art is far from his strongest interest, and although he can be encouraged to draw, he isn't very enthusiastic, believing that he is rather 'rubbish' at it! Hopefully he will be able to gain more confidence at his new secondary school. In the meantime, Sam decided that he'd try the next level on Angry Birds!

Whilst in Lewes I spotted a few classic records in the charity shop, so as the rain continued to pour, we listened to the oldies but goldies, which seemed appropriate on the retro record player... Bali, hi...

Lunch for Steve and myself consisted of sprouted spelt bread, with humus and black olives, alfalfa and radish sprouts, cucumber and pumpkin seeds -  no dairy, no wheat and importantly no pesticides! Even the boys with their rice pasta and pesto escaped the dreaded highly cultivated wheat.

With the sun coming out in the morning, Zaf and I had managed to collect quite a haul of juicy blackberries on his walk (despite Zaf's best efforts to eat as many berries as he could directly from the prickly bushes). BB and I decided to make apple and blackberry crumble for pudding, and even Sam helped by peeling the apples.

No sugar, just a dribble of agave syrup

The crumble top was made with oats, cashew and pecan nuts, chia seeds, dates and a lovely dollop of thyme honey. For dinner I rustled up a lemon and spinach risotto, with roasted (sweet and tasty straight from our green house!) tomatoes, sprinkled with a helping of pine nuts and a smidgin of Parmesan!

An unexpected highlight of the day was a particularly lovely bunch of jewel-coloured dahlias. They were given in exchange for two pieces of glass panels which Steve had put on Freecycle.

 There wasn't much the two furry chaps could do, other than kip in their own loveable way!

But the good thing about rain is that it makes rainbows, and we had the pleasure of two of these lovely apparitions.

Hope you had a great weekend too!

 

Creating my own Kate Tulett art

At the South of England Show this year, in the pouring rain, I stumbled across the very lovely Kate Tulett in one of the craft marquees. Kate is an art teacher, artist and generally a splendidly bonkers lady! I thought her collages were fab, and longed for one of her creations myself, but settled on a one-day textile course held at the school she teaches at in Oxted. But unbeknownst to me, my great hubby sneakily arranged for me to receive one of her aquascapes for my birthday, knowing that I have a particular penchant for all things sea related.



It was done in great haste as we only 'discovered' Kate a week away from my birthday, and the collage was a surprise, so it involved secret emails, and a hand-over on a garage forecourt.
I love my picture, it even has lines from a poem that Steve wrote for me many years ago!

Those who know me are well aware that I am a hoarder as far as fabric, buttons and ephemera go, and I like art which is both textural and three dimensional. So having a go at creating something as fun as one of her pieces was quite a challenge. Letting go, and allowing myself to empty my head of science and bees and such, even for a day, is not always easy. Nature accompanies me where ever I go :o)

And despite being amongst many (many!) children on the course, Kate was patient with all and sundry, no matter what age or temperament. I have done some machine embroidery before so I am reasonably comfortable with a sewing machine, but am always open to new techniques.

We looked at the work of Sophie Standing, a very clever textile artist and Kate explained her techniques, before embarking on our own projects. And although I haven't finished it, I'll show you how far I managed to get today.

First a sketch on muslin, then acrylic paints washed over the canvas

Here's one of Kate's pieces in progress

And two stages of other pieces of Kate's work!

Next the fabric stage, and here the photo of my garden for inspiration

Kate's desk!

My collage beginning to take shape with fabric scraps

Oh, oh! Small people upturning the giant fabric box and hiding amongst the multitude of textures and colours! Great fun!

But, of course, bees are always in my heart, and always part of my garden...

You'll have to wait to see the completed article, as there is more to add to my master-piece. However, I am pretty chuffed at the way it is progressing, and even the din of enthusiastic noise from what seemed like a hall full of halflings didn't deter my enjoyment of the day.

Many thanks to Kate and her two peachy assistants!

The Egg Box

I love spring, the promise of warmer, sunnier days, although this year they have been somewhat absent, but we live in hope that spring is surely just around the corner.

And one of the nice things about spring is the enthusiasm with which this time of the year is greeted by our twittering feathered friends. Their optimism inspired me to make a little display made from an old box which has been languishing in the loft, broken and unloved. It previously had semi-precious gemstones and pretty rocks in, and was in desperate need of a little TLC.

I started by taking the box to pieces before painting it with several coats of white emulsion. I then decided to splatter the box with darker blotches to imitate the spottiness of eggs, so out came the box of acrylic paints!

And using the bristles of a paint brush I flickered paint onto the wood, and finished the woodwork off with a couple of light coats of varnish, and then assembled the box.

An old book on birds' nests and eggs (I love these kind of books), painted to scale, provided the perfect picture to scan and print onto computer watercolour (slightly textured) paper. Then it was just a case of carefully cutting around the eggs and the names of the corresponding bird, and arrange all the pieces on the backing board, which I had wrapped in handmade paper.

Using tiny foam pads (from a packet of 200 obtained from a stationers) acting not only to attach the egg to the backing board, but also to raise the individual eggs slightly to give them a three dimensional effect. Since it has been illegal to take the eggs of most wild birds since the Protection of Birds Act 1954 and it is illegal to be in the possession of any wild birds' eggs taken since that time under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, this is the closest I'll get to having my own collection of eggs. I love all the colour variations.

And it sits nicely in a spring display!

I have since seen a photo in a life style magazine showing a framed picture of another egg 'collection' where the artist had made the eggs by cutting them out of old maps. It's a nice picture, although I wouldn't spend £600 on it, and actually I think I prefer my own creation :o)

Happy Sunday to you!