Digital Photography

So it's been a while since my last post. A vacation to Alaska happened. And then the start of preschool happened. Now we find ourselves finally settling in to our fall routines, and I suppose it's about time to resume our weekly art projects. Even though this blog is short on posts, Rebecca and Elliot have not ceased dabbling in art projects. Rebecca's preschool class is making a paper vegetable garden in their classroom, and so far they have crafted carrots and broccoli to plant in said garden, not to mention their painted blue sky, brown dirt, and glittered raindrops. Elliot continues to scribble with crayons and colored pencils without end, and already she is using strokes that her older sister didn't try using until she was over the age of two (this is what happens when a child has an older sibling to imitate).

Before our trip to Alaska one of the girls' California grandmothers gave Rebecca a digital camera to use to take pictures. It was an older camera that she had since replaced, and it was red! Rebecca was in love and set to taking pictures immediately. We actually started Rebecca her own free flickr site on which she can post her favorites. Take a look!

www.flickr.com/rebeccasflickrphotos

Elliot has even taken her turn at snapping a few shots with the camera, though we haven't started a flickr page for her, yet. Let's just say that I just recently uploaded 71 pictures to our iphoto application, all of which Elliot had taken, and most of which were nothing more than close-ups of her fingers. Here are some samples for you to enjoy. And yes, the picture at the top of this post is a self-portrait that Elliot took of herself.

The Hole Punch

This week's project was another one that developed on its own. After a fun weekend getaway I was planning to spend the morning doing laundry and cleaning house while the girls played nicely with the toys they so missed while we were gone, but instead Rebecca decided to get into the art materials, and Elliot followed soon after. Still afraid to give up complete supervision of the art stuff, I decided to hang around and help as needed. Rebecca stumbled upon a kid-size hole punch

that came in a flower press kit she received from her aunt and uncle in Atlanta and was immediately intrigued. I showed her how to punch holes in paper and then string ribbon through the holes. At first she had a little trouble lining the hole punch up so that it made a complete circle for stringing ribbon, but after a little practice she figured out the technique. The ribbon stringing concept was also a bit tricky for her as far as weaving the ribbon in and out of the holes. With my help she was able to approach the first hole from the top and the next hole from the bottom, but when left on her own she preferred wrapping the ribbon around the edge of the paper and putting it through the top each time.

Elliot also had fun pressing the hole punch handle down with her palm, and after helping her punch several holes in a sturdy cereal box I tried to teach her how to string a shoelace through the holes she had made because, let's face it, she really does want to do everything that her older sister does. Instead of weaving the shoe lace she liked to pull it completely through each hole.

The hole punches were also a big hit. Rebecca used some of them to glue onto the papers she had strung along with pressed flowers from earlier in the spring, and Elliot enjoyed pressing the punches through the holes they came from in the first place, as well as scattering them around on the carpet. I guess laundry and house cleaning will have to wait until after naps today, with an unplanned but necessary vacuum job in order after this morning's art fun.

Sidewalk Chalk

The weather has been pretty hot lately, so I make it a rule to get the girls outside every morning while it's still bearable. This week's art project involved playing with sidewalk chalk. This activity isn't new to the girls, but to make it a little more interesting we brought out a small tub of water and a handful of paintbrushes as well. First I had the girls draw with chalk as they always do. Elliot scribbled and Rebecca tried to draw recognizable objects in an unrecognizable fashion. Next I set the tub of water out and encouraged the girls to dip their chalk in the water prior to coloring with it. The result was very exciting as the colors appeared brighter and smoother. Finally we dipped paintbrushes in water and used them to blend the chalk lines we had previously put down on the concrete. The brushstrokes transformed the chalk strokes so that they looked almost like tempera paint rather than dry chalk. Even I had fun playing with this technique!

Beach Fun

As was mentioned in the previous post, summer time has changed our routines a good deal, which has also allowed us to get out of town on the weekends. A few weekends back we went to Santa Cruz, where we played on the boardwalk and enjoyed the beach. It was interesting to observe two valley girls' reactions to scenery both in and around Santa Cruz. Elliot, who is usually more adventuresome than her older sister, was frightened by the waves crashing on the shore, and thus refused to do anything but be held by mom. Rebecca on the other hand happily strolled up and down the beach searching for treasures to collect and built sand castles with dad. The previous day, however, she too had been frightened by the giant redwood trees in a grove in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. I suppose it makes sense that a child with a large imagination who isn't accustomed to seeing such large trees would be so affected by their ominous presence, as well as by the darkness they cast on the trail below. My husband and I have a fondness for natural places such as these, so I guess with more exposure and a bit of education our girls will come to love them too.

But back to art. We toted home a small bucket full of mussel shells, driftwood, and other small fragments of things that Rebecca found on the beach, and just yesterday we finally got around to doing something with them. I pulled out the glue gun and put spots of hot glue on a piece of driftwood while Rebecca firmly pressed the shells and feathers into the glue as it dried. Elliot also got to try, though she needed a bit more help than Rebecca did of course. Rebecca was fascinated by the thought of putting glue in a gun, and she especially enjoyed playing with the little strings of glue that form as the hot glue is stretched. When all was said and done each girl had a souvenir from the beaches of Santa Cruz, and I had a small blister on my thumb from the hot nozzle of the glue gun.

Paper Collages

Our summer routine has left us little time for our regular activities, such as story time at the local library and morning outdoor park play. We spend most mornings these days watering our ever-growing garden and preparing for, attending, and unwinding from swim lessons. Today, when Rebecca woke up too ill to attend her lesson, we decided to take advantage of a "rest" day to get creative.

Rebecca has been quite intrigued by glue lately, so I decided to incorporate glue into this week's art project. I cut small scraps of various different kinds of paper, including newspaper, tissue paper, construction paper, etc, I placed each different kind on its own cocktail plate for sorting, and I gave each kid a large page to work on and a pool of glue with a cotton swab for spreading said glue. The girls then covered their pages with a collage of rectangular paper pieces. My directions were to dab glue onto the page and then place a paper piece onto the glue spot, but Rebecca soon discovered that she preferred to coat the back of each paper piece with glue before pasting it to the page. Elliot was a bit thrown off by this two-step technique and soon began scattering paper pieces on the page without the use of glue. As you might guess, when I picked up the pages to set them to dry, many of Elliot's paper pieces slid right off. Both girls were also taken by the little paper pieces themselves, and after lunch as I set to unload the dishwasher, I found a small stack of paper pieces inside the mixing bowl cabinet. Rebecca even tried to take a few into bed with her for naps! My new rule is that all art materials are to stay in the art room (aka nursery).

Elliot's creation is on the left, Rebecca's is on the right.

Chenille Stems

This week's art project unfolded quite on its own, which can be exciting and worrisome for a mom who likes to keep her house tidy! As was mentioned in an earlier post, I have made a lot of our art materials accessible to the girls, with the exception of paints and paint brushes. Yesterday I went for a short run and left the girls in dad's care, and when I returned I found chenille stems (formerly known as pipe cleaners) scattered across the floors in basically every room in the house. Rebecca and Elliot had found the unopened bag of 100 assorted chenille stems and quickly emptied the entire contents of the bag as they traipsed through the house, likely following the cat we are watching while grandparents are on vacation. After a quick moment of panic and a "What's going on here?" I realized that Rebecca was busy bending some of the chenille stems together into little creations. The following picture shows what she came up with.

The girls had also opened up a bag of beads and were stringing beads on the stems, or, in Elliot's case, stringing them on the stems and then slipping them off in rapid succession. For those with young toddlers like Elliot, chenille stems make an ideal material for stringing such beads as they are easy for little fingers to hold on to and the whole process is fabulous for strengthening dexterity. I have to admit that, while it sometimes makes me anxious to think about what can come from two young children exploring art materials at their own speed (this morning Elliot was putting colored pencils inside everyone's shoes), I am encouraged by the fact that they are starting to let their creativity take a life of its own! Yesterday for Father's Day Rebecca decided to decorate the house by stringing ribbons around all the door knobs, and she had so much fun doing it!

Candle Dipping

Last Friday our family took advantage of our new summer schedule and travelled up to the foothills for a day of hiking and enjoying Columbia State Historical Park. While at Columbia we enjoyed ice cream (much deserved after our morning hike), panning for gold, and candle dipping, and it is the latter that I am using for last week's art project. For $2 Rebecca chose a plain white candle and, with help from dad, dipped the candle in several different colors of hot wax, giving the candle a layered look. She chose red as her base color (no surprise here), and proceeded to add layers of orange, green and blue. Elliot made it clear that she wanted to take her turn as well, but I couldn't justify taking the chance of her sticking her little fingers into the pools of hot wax. Maybe in another year darling.