blessed be!



painting :: by thehobbit

 how wonderful to have a full moon & a lunar eclipse, both on the eve of the solstice! i hope you are able to see it where you live. the weather here most likely will hamper visibility, but i'm not sad. you see, i have an elfling, who woke me before 4am today. i would sleep through the full moon playing guitar hero in my bedroom at this point. i won't be seeing the spectacle, no matter the weather.

for those of you who are waiting to see who won the give-away: i have not forgotten that i was supposed to have drawn on friday. well i had forgotten, but have remembered since forgetting. i'll draw sometime this week, & announce the winner the next time i post. i'll include an extra mushroom for your patience. just to the winner, mind you. the rest of you are outta luck :)

that's all for tonight. i hope you have a glorious start to your winter/summer.

here comes the sun, do, do, do, do. here comes the sun, & i say: it's all right...

hobbity happenings

*

when the dinky bébé joined the family, it became too easy to forget to gush about my older (or, as tinker's middle girl calls him: used) child. i am a dreadful mama.

thehobbit has been a busy bee of late. he now takes classes: lego engineering, english, & science. it feels strange, after so many years, to hand over bits of his education to others, but he's enjoying it.



autumn sunrise

 i cannot recall if i ever told you of thehobbit's karate lessons. he began earlier this year, & recently competed in his first tournament. in his age group, he took 2nd place in kata! isn't that exciting? they gave him a medal, on a pretty red ribbon, which we've proudly draped over his daddy-o's largest golf trophy.

he has another tournament later this month, as well as his second belt test in december. my very own karate kid.

scary goose

painting has become a huge part of his life. he watches the various how-to shows on pbs each night, & paints as often as he can. so far he prefers watercolor, but has begun using acrylic more in the past week.

his grammie gave him a box, filled with her old brushes, & i gave him my travel easel. yesterday i ordered fan brushes & various types of paper from dick blick. i may order a catalog, & have him circle everything he wants - sort of a giant wish list. it should come in handy this holiday season, that's for sure.



tiny flowers

 another new happening is french lessons, on his own, using the rosetta stone. he balked at first, but he does that with most things that he thinks will be too hard. only a few weeks in, & he loves it! in fact, he is already correcting me, cheeky little brat.

lastly is thehobbit's new love affair with photography. perhaps i should instead say taking photos, because he's yet to show an interest in learning how to use any feature other than the macro setting. still! he enjoys it, & has taken some pretty good photos. all those in this post are his, by the way.

so you don't envy me my amazingly perfect son, let me tell you what else is going on at thebelfry. puberty, that's what. oh my maude! puberty is brutal. it is horrid, foul, & nasty. i am sure puberty brings with it many joyful changes in a child as well, but i cannot say what they are at the moment ;)

see? not so envious now, is it? you're welcome.

~peace.

cabinet, act one

*

i began revamping a fabulously shabby cabinet today! it was the most fun - i sported a goofy smile the entire time. here are the before photos:

elfling wanted in on the fun. don't you love his victorian swimsuit? it's not really one, but a girl can pretend.

& here is a sneaky peek at the painted version:

i have yet to distress it, which means there are no more photos today. you have to wait for cabinet, act two. 

have a lovely night - i'm off to dream about wild-haired victorian swimmers, in butter-hued cabinets.

~peace. 

en plein air

*

an out-of-doors family art studio is in the works. it's quite exciting, but there is still much that needs to be done. to keep thehobbit from bemoaning over & over how. long. this. is. taking! i've set up a mini studio for his current obsession: painting.

if you'd like to join the warm weather fun (apologies to my upside down readers), feel free to be a copy-kat. i used a wooden fruit crate turned on its side, because i had a few lying around. any small table will do, but if you look at the photo above, you'll see that the other side of the crate keeps supplies off the ground.

we have a heavy marine layer at night, so the supplies will be stored in a plastic bin when not in use. the bin should fit nicely on that bottom 'shelf'.

the best part of this whole project is the paper. little paper! i found a bag of card stock remnants at a discount store; various colors, some with texture, & all thick enough to handle painting with watercolor. little remnants! i think the largest is 6 inches across. kids love little anyway, but facing a little blank canvas is less daunting than a big one. everyone can manage a little masterpiece, & in the end feeling proud of the accomplishment.

i've corralled the paper in a cardboard tray that fancy mushrooms had come in; it's the perfect size. if you haven't a tray small enough, look in your pantry. you could cut a snack box in half, horizontally, to make one of your own.



set out a water bowl, a rag for drying brushes, paint sets, & a selection of brushes. those that come with the watercolor sets are not good for bigger kids. instead, offer quality brushes, in different sizes. make sure there is at least one very thin brush, for details.

you needn't spend a lot of money on this set up. check your craft store or amazon for supplies. heck, check your dollar store, you may get lucky.



once your child is in the appropriate attire for painting little masterpieces; in this case a dirty shirt found beneath the bed, jammie bottoms, & a fancy hat; let him/her have at it!


as each painting is completed, hang it to dry with clothespins. it was too windy to hang thehobbit's on the line, so we opted for the fence. i even broke out the package of mini clothespins i'd been saving - sticking with the theme of little.

if you don't have a fence, or a line, you can tack string onto a wall, & hang the paintings on that. or even on a willing bush, or tree!

of course i realize this set up works only for a single child. those of you with hordes of children will need either many fruit crates, or a one large surface. perhaps a coffee table you're no longer using?

we are going to use our old coffee table in our out-of-doors studio. it can be used as a creating surface when thehobbit has friends over, for sitting upon when using an easel, or for an impromptu picnic. i'm sure a small table & a set of chairs would work better, but we're trying to use what we have in the garage.

as you oldies will recall, i'm not a summer gal. i prefer cooler weather, & gray skies. however, this mini prelude to our studio under the sky is making me thrilled that summer is nearly here.

i hope this inspires you to set up your own area for creating outside. & no! you don't need a yard to do this. a patio, or even a balcony would work just as well. think creatively, & you'll find a way. please leave a comment (with a link to photos) of what you come up with. if you already have an area set up, leave a comment right now! i want to steal see!

~peace.

paintings :: the paintings in this post were all created by thehobbit.