This year is going by quickly now. It seemed like it might be the longest year ever and now we are in December. 2020 has proved to be an interesting year. Hazel and I continue to meet with the children and adults in our program each week, create new ideas (and some borrowed) and learn more and more about the world of online content.
We started the month with delivering 5 projects to the children. Our featured artist for November was Etel Adnan. What an interesting woman and incredible artist! Ms. Adnan spends part of her year near us in Sausalito which was exciting for the kids. They were thrilled that a renowned artist lived so close to us and they were inspired by her paintings. We used felt and fiber board for our art pieces. Each of the works made by the children is unique, lovely and I would be happy to have them hanging in my home.
I sometimes (Hazel will tell you it more than sometimes) get obsessed with an idea for a project. For November, I really wanted to make paper lanterns. I looked at a lot of different lanterns online. I tried out various ideas and finally settled on making one over a balloon. We used gluey water (1/2 school glue/1/2 water mixed together), tissue paper and feathers. I, again, loved what the kids made. We did decide that because we were not in person helping the younger ones make their own, we would send jars instead of balloons for the youngest group. If you ever wanted to make one, check this out. Look at the photos below to see a number of the completed pieces.
Online, we do a lot of drawing. We introduced the kids to Zendoodles. Hazel thought it would be fun to draw an outline of a leaf with permanent marker, fill the leaf with designs in oil pastel and watercolor over the whole thing. And, voila! we introduced the Doodle Leaf. Wow! They turned out beautifully. Doodling is so good for our brains and coloring in the doodles turns it into eye-catching art. An article in The Atlantic discusses the cognitive benefits of doodling. It's always good to have someone back up your theory that doodling is good for us.
In preparing for Thanksgiving, Hazel wanted to paint acorns. We live in the Bay Area and don't have access to the kind of acorns we think of as festive. There are acorns around here, don't get me wrong, but we needed a certain kind. Did you know that you can buy cleaned acorns on Etsy? You can! We also purchased some plain wooden ones from Oriental Trading Company. Hazel cut out felt leaves for the kids to sew to make bowls. They turned out to be so pretty. I imagine that they will be brought out each Thanksgiving to decorate the table. Here is the link for the tutorial.
Our final November project was an Owl in a Fall Tree. I had seen a post on Pinterest and loved it. We had a lot of corks and metallic permanent markers ready to go for this. Again, what the kids made was so much better than I envisioned.
Not being in the room while the children are creating is challenging. We don't get to see many of the finished pieces of art. When we do get texts or emails of the work, we are thrilled. Many of the artists feel famous because of the Instagram postings of their work. It has been an interesting ride this year.