Mondrian at KidCulture

I wrote up my Mondrian art lesson for the preschoolers over at KidCulture. I've got some great pics of the class working on their art, including the Picasso portraits, but must do some photo editing before I post them. I don't think it's appropriate to post pics of kids that aren't my own (I'll blur their faces in photoshop). Art class is going well - it takes a lot of time but I really do enjoy it!

Mondrian's Composition II in Red, Blue and Yellow, 1930

My friend and KidCulture author Becca just told me she's been invited to join a Fine Arts Class with 8 other mothers from her ward. They rotate having the children in their homes and preparing an arts lesson for them (I assume it includes music, literature, etc). Doesn't that sound lovely?

I was recently on a blog where the author-mother wrote that she decided to put away her passions like sewing projects and other creations in an attempt to spend more time with her children - teaching, helping them practice instruments, etc. I thought to myself how happy I am that my passion for art can be translated into projects, museum visits and time with my kids quite easily!

Picasso at Preschool

I'm teaching Picasso at the preschool art class today. We'll be attempting Picasso-like self-portraits. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, you can create your own Picasso masterpieces at PicassoHead.

Above is one of Picasso's works I'll share with the kids: Maya with her Doll, 1938.

I've been out of the office...

It feels like I've been all over the place! I went to Washington, DC on a last minute trip to see my brother get married on a boat on the Potomac, I started teaching an art class twice a week at Little S's preschool and I launched a new blog.

Check out the new blog: http://www.kidculture.net

This blog idea has been swirling around in my head for almost a year. I gathered a few like-minded friends together to be contributors and it finally launched a few weeks ago. KidCulture is dedicated to arts+children.

she cut it herself

You can see some of the hair laying below on the ac unit - there were piles of it. She did it at 6:45 am while sitting on the back porch playing with fabric scraps.

Me: Little S, why did you cut your hair?

Little S: My hair kept getting in my eyes.

My guess is that the ac kicked on and blew her hair and she got frustrated.

Did I mention I was going to have some sisters pics taken in a few weeks, not to mention my sister's wedding in Oct. I think I'll start giving her the vitamin (D, I think) that promotes hair and nail growth.

Santa Barbara and birthday week

I turned 31 last week...

D instituted Birthday Week when we were first married. The tradition has lasted these 12 years and I think my birthday week 2010 was the best yet. I'll post more of the week's festivities later but we finished the week with an overnighter in Santa Barbara as part of the festivities celebrating the blessing of Ryan and Whitney's twins (though we couldn't make it to the actual blessing on Sunday).

Ryan and Whitney's families rented a beach house for the weekend and they offered us their extra room Friday night. (Chris had his last weekend of MBA school at UCLA - we missed him but are excited for him to be done!) The weekend was awesome - staying up late Friday talking and laughing, brunch on the beach Saturday and a trip to the Santa Barbara zoo included feeding the giraffe! Not to mention the delicious coconut birthday cakes Whitney made for me and the best part - holding those cute twin boys all weekend.

Little S took this picture of D and I - she's becomming quite the photographer.

Little S chickened out and wouldn't feed the giraffe after the giraffe shot its tongue out a good 8 inches at her. D stepped in to help. Apparently, the tongue felt like sandpaper.
The lion was sunning right in front of us - Baby J, Izzy and a random kid were posing, though Izzy doesn't like any kind of cat including giant ones.

Getty Family Art Days '10

We braved the crowds and traffic to attend Getty Family Art Days - Leonardo da Vinci themed this year. It's the third or forth time I've gone and I must say that the budget constraints hitting the art world were apparent at the Getty festivities. All the kid projects were paper or cardboard - nothing too fancy, but fun, nonetheless. Projects included sketchbooks with Leonardo drawings on each page, horse models (out of said cardboard pieces), frames, and decorating a postcard that the Getty would mail to anywhere you wanted in the world. Oh, and a guy dressed as Leonardo was wandering the Getty campus answering questions and posing for photo ops - Little S thought it was kinda like Disneyland. I'm sure that's what the Getty was going for.

We attended with my friend Cass and her 3 kids - all 8 of us piled into her van for the trip. She got a speeding ticket on the way there but that didn't dampen our spirits. 81 mph, come on, it's the flow of traffic! Good thing she didn't get caught when she was going 95 on the way home. Clearly tickets really make drivers think twice before speeding again.

Cass's kids getting the instructions for sketch book construction.
The boys with their finished horse models. Colin tore pieces for the legs so they would bend accurately - what an artist!
Little S wouldn't pose with her horse, but here is its portrait - three legs and all. She insisted on not attaching a 4th leg.

Baby J is obsessed with writing utensils. As soon as she saw the big kids drawing she had to get right in there, too. The Leonardo skull drawing is a bit morbid but Little S kept telling everyone that it was no big deal, "it's just the bones in your face."

Helping tie the sketchbook together - I just liked how the sunlight was falling into this shot.

We had 3 strollers between us and Cass tried to carry her 2 up four flights of stairs. I was laughing so hard when I looked up and saw her trying to load all of this like a burro. A passerby took pitty on us and helped carry one of the strollers (D was outside with Little S otherwise he would have helped).

San Francisco

Last week D and Baby J and I enjoyed a long weekend in San Francisco with our friends Chris and Nicole and their little Isabel. (Little S stayed with Grandma and Grandpa in Vegas -a big thank you to them!) We've decided San Fran is our new favorite city. It's close, architecturally beautiful, cool weather, art-filled, and the shops, the shops! The list goes on and on.

Basically, we ate our way through the city. I think we all gained weight during our 5 day stay. D even declined a treat at Ghirardelli Square because he was full from the day's eats!

Our friends Evan and Carrie and their boys were with us Saturday and Sunday. All of the people in the pic above piled into Carrie's van at one point - don't ask how, we just made it work.
Evan and his son enjoying the local chocolate.

A dozen macaroons from Paulette. My favorite was almond flavored but peach was a close second. Rose tasted too much like my grandmother's lotion.
We stayed one night at Nicole's grandmother's home just outside the city. Grandma's entry gate provided lots of fun for the 4 kiddos running around.
Saturday morning breakfast (and later lunch) on the water at the Ferry Building - so many fantastic food shops.
We had to show Baby J the ugly sea dogs! She thought they were pretty funny. You can see Coit tower above Baby J's head.

Other highlights included:
Our day in Berkeley and Sausalito visiting shops recommended by my friend Susannah: Heath Ceramics factory - so awesome - handcrafted tiles since 1948 founded by an inspiring woman, Edith Heath!

Castle in the Air and Tail of the Yak in Berkeley - whimsical, creative hotspots - I want to take one of the classes at Castle in the Air sometime. The lovely items in the shops made me want to throw away all the ugly plastic toys in our home and start over.

Lunch at Cheeseboard Pizza in Berkeley - unique and delicious co-op restaurant.

We also stood in line for breakfast at Dottie's True Blue Cafe. Worth the wait - even the locals stand in line for the "best breakfast in San Francisco." Carrot butterscotch muffin was awesome as was the coconut french toast and the 3 different egg scrambles we ordered.

We'll be back soon!