Art and nature

the lovely, but invasive porcelain berry

Ah, art and nature...These two subjects are very intertwined in my life, and bring me so much joy. Here we are, another week gone by, and so many moments to appreciate. Here is a hodgepodge of the many bits of everyday goodness.

fridge art - Vivienne's hand drawings

The kids have been very happy to have fresh clay to create with, and have made an endless array of works. Another fun theme has been dying with plant materials. I had a beautiful bunch of elderberries that were picked a bit too early for medicine making, but made for a beautiful mauve shade on silk. The elderberry is one of those medicinal/poisonous plants that one needs to learn about with care. Mia has been collecting orange Coreopsis blossoms and next we plan to gather goldenrod and walnut hulls, which coincides nicely with our local history study.

unripe elderberries

Jasper playing with clay

Inspiration came today from the Heritage Weekend at the Folk Art Center. We really enjoyed learning from the talented craftspeople about spinning, weaving, pottery, wood carving, basket making and much more. It was a treat to watch the cloggers dance to the tradition mountain music.

the apple chill cloggers

Jasper is enjoying a new marionette friend that we found at the thrift store. He named him Jack, which seems to be the name of choice for most of his toys, lately. Perhaps the amazing Peter Pan production that we went to see this week will be an inspiration for a puppet show. I have been observing a lot of climbing and leaping, with wholehearted desire to lift off in flight to Never land.

Jack the puppet

Vivienne has discovered the new crop of raspberries and the figs ripening on the tree. Yum! Figs are so beautiful, and delicious. I am thrilled for my tree to produce this year. Which reminds me of when we lived in the country and Vivi was just two to three years old, she would walk along the wooded path near our cottage, and return with a fig. But I never could locate the fig tree, and she never could show me where it was. It was her secret, and no one else ever discovered it.

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." ~ Pablo Picasso