Playing with Other People’s Toys

Recently, Caitlyn got a weekend with her grandparents and met her grandmother’s Saori loom. Sharing the results of her explorations was the very first thing she wanted to do when we arrived on Sunday evening to collect her. Then, because she was *that* excited, she insisted that I meet the loom as well. I may have spent the rest of the evening weaving. I had a small lap loom when I was a kid, and I remember generally liking weaving with it. I didn’t really pursue it beyond that, never really figuring out what to do besides repetitive stripes or …

Kids Art Week Wrapup

It took us more than the prescribed week, but Caitlyn and I did finish Carla Sonheim’s Kids Art Week video lesson series. Here’s a sampling of my favorites of our results: I painted this cross-eyed owl in the style of Jean Dubuffet. The process used salt as a resist with the watercolor, something I’d read about yet never tried (not really surprising since the amount of watercolor I do is pretty much zero). I really like the resulting texture! The black is an acrylic over the watercolor, something I doubt I would have thought to do on my own (mixing …

Kids Art Week, Day 1

Caitlyn and I are following along with Carla Sonheim‘s 2016 installment of Kids Art Week. Five days of free how-to art project posts with each project inspired by the work of a famous artist. Caitlyn’s a good artist already, having produced some nicely drawn dragons last December. I like the idea of making more art myself, but I find myself frequently stymied by the blank page. One would think I’d have some clue how to handle that since I write a fair bit. Maybe it’s that I can call the writing “journaling” and string together free-association thoughts until there’s something …

A Knot for the New Year

I haven’t drawn a knot in years, but today it seemed like the thing to do. I had to go back to my reference book (Celtic Design: Knotwork by Aiden Meehan) to remind myself how the knot was supposed to wind itself around the guiding grid. This knot is done on a grid done by Mr. Meehan, so while I’ve drawn this one, it’s copied from one of his designs. Maybe there will be more knots (of the artistic variety) this year?

Tangle Storage

I’ve recently discovered Zentangle (it’s Jackie‘s fault). And someday, perhaps, I’ll show some of my tangles. Not yet, though. More relevantly, I decided that I didn’t want to carry my tangling supplies around in a beat-up gallon ziploc kitchen escapee. I’m probably breaking all sorts of tangle etiquette by not tangling in a more meditative fashion. Oh, well. Maybe when I’m all grown up I’ll figure out how to get up before dawn, write 1000 words, do 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, center myself with a tangle, and be all peaceful, productive smiles for my family at breakfast. Apparently, I’m …

Priorities and Time

I don’t really think of myself as an ambitious person. Wanting to be president or working to find a cure for cancer or becoming a box office smash, those are ambitions. I just have a wish list. Admittedly, it’s a very long wish list. And I suppose not everything on the list is actually a wish. I never find myself saying, “Gee, I wish I could clean the bathroom right now.” But I do often wish I kept house better. I’m a huge list maker. I have to-do lists on paper, on the computer, in my head. And I’m a …