Saturday, February 16, 2008

Kids' Art

Since returning from Australia, we have continued our pre-Christmas tendency to take over the dining room table, once in a while cleaning it up and putting the table cloth back on for dinner; but mostly, covering it with every craft material we own to make valentines and other art. Nicolas has decided that it is time to get a table where our arts and crafts can live. No worries! We are happy to oblige. So this will be the last shot of us doing art where we eat:This is Gillen's entry for a GA bird drawing competition:
The first in a series of murals that Jesse decided to create this past week. Hot Chocolate and good music were a few of his inspirations. I can't help feeling that "Across the Universe", what he saw of it, played a part as well.
Yesterday, Jesse followed through on his plan to go on a "magic quest." We couldn't find the magnifying glass that he had requested but I did give him a small container that we have that holds and magnifies bugs. He eagerly set off, with the woods as his planned destination. Gillen and I watched as he spent about twenty minutes wandering around our back yard. He came back with his magnifying cup filled with water from the frog pond, nothing in it visible to the naked eye. Looking through the lens, there were tiny bits of life moving about.

"Magic," proclaimed Jesse. "I don't have to go further than the yard to see magic!"

He added moss to the list , "since most people think it is straight and the fact is that it is furled like a Fern".

He says that he can't forgive us about our Santa lie. But at the same time he is glad that he's been inspired to look for magic more closely.

The events of the past few days reminded me of this quote.

"Kids are God. Pay Attention"
-Viggo Mortensen

5 comments:

Deanne said...

"Magic," proclaimed Jesse. "I don't have to go further than the yard to see magic!"
~~Beautiful!!!

Their artwork is also beautiful, so vibrant! Gillen's birds are amazing!

I so agree with the quote you posted. ;)

Unknown said...

You just reminded me how important it is to be in the middle of art projects. It has been awhile since we have 'lost' ourselves in creativity. Too much time devoted to farm planning, conference book sales and life in general. You've inspired me to empty the art closet on the table and take a few days to do 'nothing' - ha ha. Thank you.

Madeline Rains said...

Thanks Deanne. :)

Good crafting, John!

Cami said...

You've got a couple of great artists there! Good luck to Gillen in the competition, his birds and the whole composition is really beautiful. We have a table like that, too. The laundry-folding - arts & crafts - dinner table. It's always, "Let's clear the table off so we can....."!

mindy said...

I LOVE Gillen's bird drawing....awesome! I hope he wins and his picture is on t-shirts everywhere!