Fruit Gone Wild

Wild cherries, steps away from our patio!

Dunno who was more excited,

me or the NanoBot!

Although she did ask, "Are they edible?"

I'm more comfy eating wild cherries

than store-bought ones, 

so we washed them, and ate them!

They weren't as sweet as farm cherries,

but they were organic.

And they did spurt out lots of

intensely colored juice!

And in any case they were way too fun to pick.

It was worth it!

 

 

She picked the flowers

for 'decoration'.

Looks like I may have a food stylist 

in the making!

We haven't done our usual cherry-picking

at a local farm yet this season,

but our wild foray was great!

 

 

A new listing, and some paintings

Some time ago I posted about my acceptance into 

a textile art project sponsored by the Niagara Region.

We've had one meeting so far where we got to 

meet our fellow artists - there are twelve in all.

I was amazed at their education and experience in the field - 

was I the only one who had never taken courses in art?

And had only been working with fabric less than three years?

YIKES!

Each artist will be working on a panel about 2 feet x 4.5 feet - 

way bigger than anything I've ever done!

We'll be working from photographs,

translating the image into fabric.

They gave me the juiciest photo of all - really!!!

But more on that later.

Today I finished a necklace I've been working on 

for a while, sporadically :)

 Not only that, I also LISTED IT!!!!

It was so much fun to make,

and I feel tempted to keep it for myself,

but I'd really like to sell it too.

Also, today the NanoBot and I messed around 

with some paint and paper.

She made a lovely bluey-green abstract

which I can't find at the moment,

and which she gave me to keep 'as a present'.

So sweet.  I better find that painting!

I scanned some drawings of hers though:

 Aren't they the cutest?

 

She draws straight with pen - and doesn't like to color.

The text in the second picture was written by me - her request.

She'll be turning 5 in May, my sweet little munchkin :)

I hope her world is always filled with joy.

And I wish I could draw like her!

And for my dear friend Asma,

who has a big, blank purple wall,

I made this:

 Asma works in Toronto,

so I used torn images from a Toronto city guide,

and added parts of an abstract scribble 

that the NanoBot had decorated some note paper with - 

since she is with me all the time while I work,

I thought it fitting to add an element of her presence 

into my collages.

 I stamped on circles with a bottle, a marker cap, even my fingers.

The wall is a deep plummy purple, and my colors 

will complement that, I hope!

 

I wanted to make them all different,

yet similar enough to hang together.

Asma's other name is Emilia,

and I just happened to find a purple E!

Hope she likes them!

 

Paper Sculpture with the NanoBot

It's been rainy, so rainy.  I do love the rain,

even though it sometimes means being stuck indoors, but not much :)

So on one such lovely day,

NanoBot and I sat out in our little covered patio

outside our apartment

and made...

this!

I can see the idea translated into

wall sculptures with an industrial feel -

a set of three square bases

with metal strips instead of paper

and a lovely blue-green patina!

Anyway, here's the PAPER version for now,

with a step-by-step demo

courtesy the NanoBot herself.

Begin with some thick paper for a base.

We used the side of a spaghetti carton.

Glue plain paper on to it and cut to size, like so:

So now you have a cleverly recycled piece of packaging!

Set the base aside and start making line drawings on a sheet of paper.

I used one color, lots of globby shapes, and a whole bunch of

lines in a variety of ways.

This was the only step I showed the NanoBot an example of.

(the teal blue drawing is mine)

It was a good lesson for taking note of how many

ways you can draw a line.

Then she made her own...

She made the globby shapes in a pale orange, but quickly

switched to a dark blue for the inside lines.

She even put in some alphabets!

Next, flip the drawing over, make some guiding lines

(yes, MORE lines)

and cut!

Snip, snip into thin strips.

And you end up with these.

Remember that base we made before?
This is where it makes its grand entrance.

Using a glue stick, start sticking the ends of the strips to the base,
leaving the rest of the strips loose.

You can twist the strips before you glue the second end,

or loop them around other strips.

Keep going until the entire base is covered, and you get THIS.

A lovely, loopy paper sculpture!

And an incredible artist overcome with modesty!

Do give it a try!

While The Babies Sleep

 Four little babies fell asleep

Then their friend came and woke them up

This inspired Mommy to wake up too.

And see red.

And gold.

And oval seemed like a good way to go.

Ready to party?

Minty Green Butterflies

What happens when you mix blue with yellow,

or actually, greeny-yellow?

Minty green, of course!

The NanoBot had her fingers in the making of this,

but that was the best part. 

I love 'cooking' with her!

I found this playdough recipe at mini-eco here.

(can you believe those yummy natural colors???)

We wanted blue playdough, but didn't have any red cabbage left,

(chop some and pour boiling water over it,

and you get an intense blue dye

-also thanks to mini-eco.  You MUST check out this fabulous blog)

so I improvised with drink crystals

(which we only use for coloring stuff - haven't tasted them yet :))

The drink crystals were a lovely blue,

but the recipe calls for cooking oil,

and I only had olive oil.

That's where the blue+greeny yellow part happened.

The resulting color was a gorgeous icy green - so cool!

The butterfly pic was taken as daylight was just fading,

and shows the color accurately.

We made lots more butterflies, then put the cookie cutter away.

These pics were taken in yellow light.

I made a bunny face, and the LittleOne made some monsters.

This was the color of the drink crystals

(no idea what flavor that is - I just picked it up for its hue!)

It made for a good lesson in color mixing!

While I Work...

...The LittleOne works too...

exploring

learning

painting

being

And then she comes...

Bearing magical gifts...

For ME!

For one thing...

...does ANYBODY read this blog?

For another, tonight the Nanobot fell asleep ON HER OWN!!!

It's night time.

But is it also the eve of a new beginning, or the dawn of a new era, or whatever it is they say?

You know what I mean.

Yes, you.

Meanwhile, I'm so taken aback by this strange occurence I'm not sure if I should stay up and celebrate in some way (although of course, it had to happen on a night when DaddyBoy is out helping a friend with a leaky faucet, so I have to forget about curling up and finally watching a movie) or just quietly go to bed, coz I really need to.

Hmm.

Aisha Dean, Artist. Age 28 Months.

Surprised Baby

Sleeping Baby

Ballet-Dancer Baby

Very Happy Baby

Uncle Dave

(don't ask me!!!)

Snuggly Baby

Finished!

My illustrations for the first book I was working on are finished! It's been a while since I last illustrated children's books, so I was really happy to get back into the challenge. This was also the first time I used the computer to color the pictures, and it was fun to play around with different looks without having to paint and repaint! I drew the pictures by hand, scanned them, then opened them up with Adobe Illustrator, and then converted the drawings to what's known as a Live Paint Group. This basically allows you to take each component of the drawing and then color it to your preference. I've never done this before so I learned as I went. I'd also really like to learn how to do 3D renderings, but one thing at a time!

The BabyChick I went for another walk today. It was cool but not uncomfortably so, and there were so many more new things growing. I didn't take the camera this time, though. We ran into a couple of other babies with the mommies at the park, and the LittleBug was simultaneously shy and eager as usual. She gets really excited to see other kids but is lately wanting to keep her distance and just observing them play, instead of joining in. I'm being told it's a phase, which is fine with me. I know she'll want to play when she's ready for it. For now she is very happy to just watch!

Over the weekend I was able to make guest posts for Addicted2Decorating and CraftingInColor, the two lovely blogs I occasionally write for, so that was good. I have to start on my next book soon. Can't wait!

Update from India

I've been in India a few weeks now, and was able to manage only one blog post so far, and that not for this blog, but for the two lovely ones I frequently contribute to. This was a story about a house so full of color that I had to feature it. Interested? Read more here or here!

Meanwhile, the BabyButton is being very enchanting to all my relatives, and is sleeping better than she ever has, but is also learning the Magical Art of Throwing. Throwing what, you may ask. Why, tantrums, of course! Thank goodness for Attachment Parenting techniques for a crying baby!

Other than that, it's been wonderful so far. Lots of family and fun, and yes, food! I have pictures, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to upload them. They are on my dad's computer right now, but I hope to sort them out soon. He's been clicking away by the hundreds!

Another masterpiece

I only wish I could make something like that!

Write, right?

Yes, I could just write (on this blog), but it's no fun without pictures, and my @!#!#$ camera won't cooperate! It was acting really moody to begin with, and then DaddyBoy went and dropped it, twice in about 10 seconds, while we were visiting friends I hadn't seen for a year, and really wanted some pics of their little girl with our own little BabyBubble. And he's never clumsy! So I have things to show but uhh...not really, unless you have telepathic powers.

So I'm ending up not making all those posts I wanted to share, the ones I wanted to fill in for all the time I was away. Guess we'll have to go shopping.

Anyway, more importantly, the sweet little BabyWorm is turning into R2D2! She's walking! YAY!!! And it is so adorable to watch her do her robot walk. It's funny how one day she was tottering a few steps before falling down, and the next day she was walking entire room lenghts, turning and navigating. Wow! She still resorts to crawling when she wants to get somewhere really fast, like when I'm playing catch with her, or when KittyCake is :)

REAL e-know

I've been too shy so far to post any pictures of my family, but here's one of DaddyBoy deep in the white stuff after a huge snowstorm that hit Niagara. It took him a good half hour to get the car out. I took the picture from the BabyDonut's point of view, who was watching with great interest from the mesh-part of the kitchen window. She was thrilled to see all those huge chunks of e-know!