travel paints

In preparation for our trip, I've been pulling together travel

watercolor pallets for myself and the kids. This seems like the

most portable art option, although (popular to contrary belief)

watercolor is not a very kid-friendly medium. Here's why: 

kids are very straightforward about painting. They start big 

and add details later. This works fine if none of the details

are lighter than the main mass. But watercolor doesn't have

a lot of easy options for adding whites or light colors at the 

end. In fact, many watercolorists work backwords, saving the white

highlights at the beginning. This takes a good deal of planning...

or at least awareness. Also, if all the colors go on while the

initial round of painting is wet, watercolors tend to blend together

into a puddle of brown. So kids get frustrated with the colors 

coming out not nearly as clear and bright as they were in the box.

All that to say that I am baffled with our tendency to start 

children with watercolors. Let's go back to finger paints!! 

Okay, I'll hop down off my soap box now.

 Because, after all, I am toting a variety of adorable travel palettes

loaded full of juicy watercolor paints to dive into with my kids

on vacation. Hopefully I can teach them some techniques that will 

lead to satisfying outcomes in their travel journals. 

To get palettes set up, I had to figure out what pigments they already

contained. So I've had a delicious time painting color

swatches and comparing them to tube paints and friends' supplies.

Now the Art Basket is loaded up, as is the Summer-Enrichment-Program

Briefcase and the Making-Fabric-Flowers Bag. I'll share more about 

these soon! In the meantime, I'd better go pack some clothes.... 

 

need i say more?

 

 

teacher gifts

I started crocheting three months ago just to barely get four sets of these

teacher gifts made, and voila! Here they are (Whew!). To get the lovely little

watermelon dish scrubbies, I modified this pattern at LittleBirdieSecrets.com.

I used her dishcloth pattern straight up. The watermelon is actually easier

than the dishcloth, as it is just a circle folded in half and sewn around the edges.

I figure everyone has dishes to scrub, right? 

And watermelon is just so summery.

Ashton is delighted to give these to as many teachers as possible, 

but Elliott is in no way eager to claim them as his own -- 

"You can just give it to her yourself, Mommy." 

 Maybe I should have used camouflage-colored yarn for one of them!

sabbatical musings

As some of you know, my husband Eric and I have been gearing up

for a two-month sabbatical this year. We're nearing the birthday of

the church we planted with other dear friends almost eleven years ago.

As a pastor, Eric has always planned to take a sabbatical on the tenth

year, and things have fallen into place beautifully for that to happen.

In two weeks, we'll be heading off on a road trip to Oregon with our kids.

Friends of the family have graciously offered us a place to stay while we're there.

After that, we'll be back in town but not living at home for the rest of the summer.

In the midst of that time, we hope to make good headway on Eric's book,

spend a lot of time as a family, and see where the adventure takes us!

I'll be packing my paints, my Bible, and my guitar (along with the aforementioned

husband and children), and hope to return freshly inspired in many arenas.

So don't go away, folks -- I'll be posting updates as we travel along!

 

hello again

Hello, friends both near and far!

I am not sure how I have managed to be

absent since mid-April. The garden, as you

can see, has kept growing. We have eaten 

two salads out of it and have harvested 

a good amount of cilantro and some peppers.

The summer is coming fast, and I hope

to dive back into painting. I usually spend 

the summer in a sleepy stupor, but I have been

wide awake since I started taking fish oil three

weeks ago. I feel hopeful about the possibilities.

I hope May finds you well and delighted.