swan island dahlias

On our way home from Laurel Hedge Oma, Opa, Naiya and I stopped by the Swan Island Dahlia Farm for their Annual Dahlia Festival.  This family run farm has been in existence for 84 years and has expanded over the decades to grow over 350 varieties of dahlias on their 40 acres of lush land in the Willamette Valley in Canby, Oregon.  They're the leading dahlia grower in the U.S. and their gorgeous fields and display room are a delight to the senses.

 

laurel hedge art in the garden

Yesterday we made it to the Art in the Garden event at Laurel Hedge in Estacada.  We've been to this designer garden/boutique nursery before but attended this fourth annual art event for the first time this year.

Out of respect for the artists, I didn't photograph any of the work displayed around the beautiful grounds but I did get a few detailed shots of the garden that I didn't include in the last post highlighting this inspirational gardening paradise.

I wish I were more familiar with the botanical names and categories and had more photos of the unusual and interesting specimens of plants which highlight the many design concepts exhibited in the garden.  Instead what I tend to emphasize with my shots are the charming structures, fountains and statuary that the eye of my four year old pinpoints which subsequently draw my camera.

We especially liked watching the bees drinking from the bird bath this time around.

ruhl bee supply

   Every now and again I come across a place to visit or a product or a store that I think is worth sharing.  Sometimes I'm surprised to find these things quite close to home and am shocked I didn't know about them sooner. 
   Well, I'd been hearing about Ruhl Bee Supply from various beekeepers I know and finally went to check them out.  They're located in Gladstone, Oregon (just outside of Portland) and have been supplying and educating beekeepers in the local area for over 100 years.  We've been thinking about adding bees to our urban homestead and they have hives, classes and all the supplies we'd need (for both honey and mason bees) but, it turns out they also have quite a selection of crafting materials.  They carry soap, skin care and candle making provisions as well as local honey, pollen, propolis and royal jelly.
  I'm not affiliated with them in any way.  No one's paying me for any kind of endorsement.  I just think it's a great store.  If you're in the area, I'd recommend stopping by for a visit.  For those nowhere close, they also have online shopping.
   Since we've been making our own beeswax polish, balm and candles, what made them most worth while for us was the pound of beeswax for $6.25!  That's less than half of what I've been paying elsewhere.

cookie nibblets

As if making cookies instead of bread for baking day weren't fun enough, today we did several trays of snickerdoodles as tiny cookie nibblets.  Snickernibbledoodlittles.  (Didn't people used to put these in a bowl of milk and call them breakfast cereal?)

painting day

Saturday is Painting Day.

   We sometimes paint with tempura but Saturday Painting Day is most often an adventure in wet-on-wet watercolor.  We love to hang the beautiful finished products of Painting Day around the house, but we also keep a store of them to make cards for various occasions and as charming backgrounds to the many verses and poems that we post here and there.
   Unlike regular painting or drawing, wet-on-wet painting, by nature of the medium, is about color and movement and not so much about form.  Because the paper is wet, distinct figures and configurations continually transform on the page so this kind of painting seems almost to have a life of its own.  The process is slow and gentle and, performed mindfully and with reverence, it is a magical undertaking for children and adults alike.
    With that in mind (and to avoid the wild and frenetic tendency of other activities) we often begin this afternoon by setting a tone of calm centeredness.  Sometimes we'll light a candle after we've prepared our space and just prior to picking up our brushes we'll say a special verse or read a poem.

Now I take the brush so gently

In my hand with loving care

Watch the color flow so softly

On the paper clean and clear

   For those not familiar with the wet-on-wet method though, here's a picture of what our time in this activity looks like from the start...
   We begin with high quality watercolor pigment (Stockmar is our preferred brand) and pretty heavy good watercolor paper.  A glob of pigment is placed in a small jar before water is added and the jar is shaken to thoroughly emulsify the paint.  The quantities vary each time we mix depending on the density of color we'd like to work with.  (In these pictures, I would say we used about 1/2 tsp. of pigment to about 4 Tblsp. of water.  This particular batch was more vibrant than that which we normally use.)
    I then round the edges of the paper.  This isn't necessary but the theory is that it opens possibilities in the child's imagination because the edges of the painting space are less defined and limiting and create less of an abrupt boundary.  Also, I just think it looks nicer.  The paper is then soaked in water for 10 to 15 minutes.  (We use a high edged cookie sheet to accommodate large pages.)
   We place the wet paper on a waterproof surface with the coarse side up and smooth it with a sponge from the center out toward the edges to remove any bubbles trapped underneath.  (Naiya enjoys the sponging sometimes almost as much as the painting.)  This is usually when we'll have our verse or poem or have a little color tale.  Some time back, Naiya shared with me a verse she had learned at school just as we were beginning to paint.  Like the instruction to always be sure Peter washes his hair between each color, this verse is a lesson on how to gently use the brush:

Peter Paintbrush dances always on his toes

Never on his bottom and never on his nose

Always on his tippy, tippy, tippy, tippy toes

(She brushes my hand with the bristles as she sings this and gently swipes one finger on each "tippy" that she says.  Peter on his "bottom" means the brush is crushed into the page bending the bristles too much.  Peter's "nose" is the metal gusset that holds the bristles to the brush handle.  So, we don't want Peter dancing on either of those!)

   After our verse, either we just paint or I'll talk about a mood or a color or a feeling.  One of our favorite subjects is times of the day.  In Oregon, especially in the Summer, right before dusk, there's a subtle but amazing change in the light some days so that everything is golden and the air kind of shimmers (it lasts for only about five or ten minutes).  We'll talk about something like that and then we'll both pick up a brush and each tenderly place color on paper.   Maybe we'll feel guided by our talk, maybe not.  Sometimes our hands and the hues and the light have lives of their own.
   We generally paint with between one and three colors.  Today was an exception because Naiya was interested in rainbows.  

   You can see though, that even despite efforts at form, the painting had an agenda of its own.  (Actually, this was maybe too wet a page coupled with a slightly sloping drying surface.)

  Somehow, in the end, I always think they're beautiful.

craft day

Friday is Craft Day.

   Each of our weekly afternoon activities are pretty specific and we do essentially the same kind of thing each time around.  Craft Day though encompasses a really broad spectrum of projects, occasionally gets a little weird and often is very messy.  In our case, "crafts", generally speaking, deviate from the routine paint, paper and crayons that we use all the time but can include such typical elements as glue and glitter.  More often they're even more unconventional.  We have used this day for pouring candles, whipping up a new batch of play dough, sewing, paper folding, fabricating lanterns, felting, finger knitting, sticker art, papier-mâché or even making bird feeders.  Basically, it's a day for all the interesting things we think to do that don't fit into the formats of the other days of the week.  A lot of times we do our seasonal crafts to add to the Nature Table on Friday or, if we're impressively organized, we'll put together gifts for upcoming birthdays and whatnot.  

   Today was rather ordinary for a Craft Day.  Naiya wasn't even interested in adding glitter or beads or sparkles to our project and fundamentally, all we did was paint.  We've had these houses for a while now and she's been wanting to decorate them to add to the growing neighborhood in the fairie garden.

   After we finished the houses she got really interested in color combining and brought out some paper she found in the supply cabinet.  After mixing colors on the pages, she folded them in half, pounded on them with a stone and declared them beautiful.  They really are, and the idea came completely from her.  This is the magic of free art.

drawing day

 Thursday in our home is Drawing Day.

   As I've mentioned before, I have never "taught" Naiya how to draw.  I generally stay away from coloring books and don't instruct her on the how-to of figure rendering or architectural outline.  I do draw alongside her, but I have always been interested to see what would happen in her art if she were just given the tools and then been allowed to let color, movement and imagination be her ultimate guides.

   When we gave her a permanent dedicated art area in our home, her interest increased significantly as did the quantity of beautiful works she produced.  (She, of course, draws, paints and models wax on her own even when those activities are not a specified part of our daily rhythm.)  As in many homes, we've found a novel way to display a plethora of her lovely creations but struggle with what to do with the excess.  I have such a difficult time just throwing them away.

   It's been interesting to see her human forms evolve and then revert back to some previous stage.  (A while back the people had legs but they have now returned to the classic single peg.)  Sometimes they have heads and even faces; on other days they're simple stick crosses with hair.  Mostly she draws people, houses and gardens (both vegetable and flower).  I suppose that's because those are her primary interests and, having limited drawing skills myself, those are my own default subjects.
   One thing we've done that has inspired new subject matter and some interesting variations in her work is to change the size and shape of the paper on which she draws.  We make them long and skinny and lay those both horizontally and vertically or we cut triangles, circles, butterflies, pumpkins or even just odd organic forms.  When I give her a tiny, tiny piece of paper to draw on she squeals with delight and then laughs and laughs.  She loves drawing tiny pictures.

Vivid swirling radiant hues
Reds and yellows, greens and blues
From heart and mind down through my hand
On the page the colors land
Light and shadow then appear
Forming pictures bright and clear