red and yellow

jess has been experimenting with some colour mixing today.

red strokes with the paint brush over the yellow ones to make orange.

watching her face during this process was lovely. the interest and then recognition of what was happening when the two colours combined.

jess has painted with more than one colour at a time before at playgroup. the colours she used there weren't primary colours (i think they were a dirty brown, purple and a little fluro pink...hmmm!) and the mixing process was lost on her at the time.

at home we have spent reasonable amounts of time using single primary colours to concentrate on the painting process and getting acquainted with using a paintbrush. this has also helped towards colour recognition.

i think i have introduced using two colours at a time when jess's interest in painting has been waning and i am hoping that interest will now be re-ignited. it certainly seemed to be today. 

jess did a couple of paintings, the first i didn't photograph so what you see in the pictures is the second. we used some paper cut into a circle as we are starting to talk about and look at shapes.

also moving the easel inside, thus changing the location seemed to help too. apron went on, paint covered fingers stayed close to the easel, mum tried to stay calm about any potential mess and it was all good. painting outside had usually ended up being about water play.

i am excited about trying blue and yellow but will wait a while yet and continue with the red and yellow, perhaps with jess trying to mix some in a separate pot before applying it to the paper. 

jess's chatter while painting went like this...

cat, cat on a wall, red cat, yellow cat, marmalade cat, i'm painting a sun, moon, cat on a wall, bee, yellow bee, a spider, frog, cat on the wall, marmalade moon, high in the sky, painting for daddy... 

love.

i mainly follow the outlines for introducing colours and art experiences from the wonderful book by susan striker called young at art.

right now...

right now i am...

enjoying the quietness of my house during nap time.

wishing it could last all afternoon.

hearing only the sound of the birds singing outside and occasionally the dog shuffling around on the deck to find a more comfortable position.

smiling at the thought of a little girl pointing to things in a book and trying so hard to pronounce everything correctly.

looking forward to having some time this week to sew up some more clothes for jess.

happy that autumn is here and summer seems (at the moment) to be gone.

noticing it has been a little cooler at night and dewy in the mornings.

wanting a teenage daughter to spend a little more time at home.

readying myself to create some easter gifts for the girls.

reminding myself to get together a little present for my mum's birthday next week.

remembering this time last year, when we had recently moved to this house and jess was just learning to pull herself to standing and cruise the furniture.

deciding that i need to have more patience.

hoping i can get up in the dark tomorrow morning and get to exercise class.

thinking about planting out bulbs in the garden with jess.

wondering if she will remember planting them when they flower later in the year.

feeling refreshed after a morning out of the house with some lovely ladies and their children.

laughing at my attempts to learn zumba moves.

waiting for taproot to arrive in the mail.

inspired by soulemama to be mindful for what is happening right now.

bulbs

a parcel full of bulbs arrived today.

daffodil erlicheer and garlic.

i love the earthiness of the erlicheer bulbs and can't wait to plant them out.

maybe some in pots so they can be bought inside too.

some people find the smell a little bit too much but i love them. 

sunday afternoon

sunday afternoon...

a walk to the beach...

a little bit of pattern making...

and sewing...

long phone conversations with the university daughter and a dear old friend...

whole food kitchen recipe maple syrup and tamari rainbow vegetables with baked potatoes and herb and sprout salad for dinner.

oh where did you go sunday!!!

umbrella prints

umbrella prints are running their 'trimmings' competition once again.

i found out about this competition a little too late to enter last year. 

but this year i am ready for the challenge.

i am just about to order my trimmings pack and have been thinking of ideas of something or somethings to create. i have a few ideas already but i will wait until my pack of 'trimmings' arrives before making the final decision.

the idea of this competition is to make something...  anything using the small pieces of material from just one pack.

i love umbrella prints screen printed material and have used it for a number of projects in the past including bags and cushion covers.

so i am excited about coming up with a little something for the competition. 

i will share with you soon!

shirley hughes

out and about through the year and the nursery collection by shirley hughes would have to be two of jess's favourite books.

we have read these so many times that jess can 'read' along with us. for example i say 'bathwater's...' jess says 'hot', i say 'seawater's...' jess says 'cold' and so on. we can nearly read the whole book like this.

we came home from play group with two more of shirley hughes books, giving and bouncing. the big alfie and annie rose storybook arrived in the mail today to add to our collection.

all of these books capture the little details of domestic life with small children beautifully. they are a joy to read and the illustrations keep jess captivated. i often find her looking at these books by herself.

shirley hughes wrote and illustrated her first book in the 1960s with tom and lucy and has illustrated more than 200 books in her lifetime. she has won a kate greenaway medal and the prestigious eleanor farjeon award for her services to children's literature. a complete list of her works as an author and illustrator can be found here and the official alfie website here.

there are so many more titles i would like to have in our collection.

seeds

summer's gone and autumn's beginning.

my favourite season.

a friend who has a permaculture garden not far from us has given me some seeds today... radish, celery, parsnip and carrot. along with licorice and comfrey roots and lavender cuttings to propigate. 

a trip to the garden centre yesterday. 

a parcel with packets of seeds and plants arrived from interstate on monday.

 herbs, roses, rhubarb and passionfruit to plant out and many, many seeds to put in the ground.

i am going to be busy in the garden this weekend.

excited!