Thursday, February 25, 2016

Art at Grandma & Grandpa's house

My husband and I are both artists and we are so blessed and sooooo very lucky to be at a place in our lives where it all has come together.  We are, as we call it,  "semi-retired", which means we are still working but not at full-time mainstream jobs.  We have a studio attached to our house that is full of light and all the supplies we might need at our fingertips.  It is our creative sanctuary, a place where we can, and do, create messes and it doesn't matter, we just let the creative juices flow....we can just shut the door and go back to it the next morning....We Love It!!

 Our primary blessing is time....time to do what we want, that allows us to explore our own creativity also be able to spend time with our grandchildren helping them to explore their creativity when they come to visit.  At our house we can -do fiber arts-create sacred objects (Goddess Eggs)- color pencil-airbrush-fused glass- painted fused glass -oil paint-pastels- jewelry making/beading-woodworking.....a wonderland of art.

This past week we have had the joy of a visit by our grand daughter, Ahshayla, who is 10 years old, and, of course, she wanted to do art.  She definitely had an agenda....create an egg for her daddy and learn how to draw faces.  I took up the "create an egg" assignment and Papa Raffy was assigned the "draw a face" lesson.

To make an egg with a child is an interesting process.  First step is to choose an appropriate egg.  I generally like the to use a goose egg.  It's a nice big size that is easy for a small hand to hold.  The eggs at the top of this picture are goose eggs.  Look how small they look next to the ostrich and emu eggs underneath them!!  The really big eggs like ostrich and emu, take way to many stones an are really to big for children to handle easily.

Next, we pick out the stones and rhinestones that we will be using.  This is pretty difficult and takes some time because kids want to use a little bit (or a lot) of everything.  Also, since we try and coordinate the gems with the color of the egg....editing is required.

Here is Ahshayla painting her egg.  She decided on a metallic blue egg with silver accents.  She chose Peacock Rock, blue chaton rhinestones and AB flatback Swarovski rhinestones for a super sparkly hit.

She did a very nice job painting the egg.  The hardest part of the painting process is waiting for the paint to dry between coats and making sure it is dry enough before going to the next step.

 While waiting for the paint to dry Ahshayla would head straight to Papa Raffy (aka grandpa) to make sure he was going to be available for an art lesson on drawing faces as soon as the egg was complete.  I think she was making sure he would be ready and not get into another project and perhaps put her off.....HA!  like that would happen!


  She did prayers that went inside and she chose a white glittery little flying dove to go into the center of the egg to represent Peace and Love.  At long last her gift for her daddy was complete.  She was very happy with how it turned out.  I think she did a great job.
Finished egg...Blue goose egg set with peacock rock and rhinestones
Now it was grandpa's turn to continue with the creativity and his "draw faces" lesson.  I got out all the paper needed and my big set of color pencils.  They set up for the lesson on the kitchen table because although we have a large studio...it is currently filled with glass for a big church widow painting job that Raphael is working on.
Raph is a very good teacher.  He is patient and very clear with his directions.  It helps that all our grandchildren are very good listeners too.  (they are perfect you know).  Anyway, he carefully explained how to figure out where eyes go, how far apart they should be, where the nose begins and ends, how big ears really are and where they should be placed, how far up on the forehead eyebrows are and where shadows show up on the planes of a face.  Ahshayla took it all in and, hopefully, will remember it, but if not, there will be more art lessons in the future.

The head you see in the background is me working on my own little drawing.

My daughter, Ahshayla's mother, decided we needed a snack
and made popcorn which was greatly appreciated.  She makes the best popcorn EVER.  We loved it until the black paper came out and greasy fingers became a problem.



following grandpa's directions
As you can see, she is doing pretty well.  It is so much fun to watch as things start to come together for them.  Like most children, she didn't really think she could draw anything as good as grandpa's, but the reality is....he is in his 70's and has been an artist his whole life...practice-practice-practice- he did not have a parent or grandparent to help when he was as young like her.  He did go to an Art High School in New York City where he grew up.  That's something most of us do not have an opportunity to do.   He is a professional artist that has made his living with his art all his life.  Extraordinary!

None of our grandchildren may grow up to be professional artists, but they can have the amazing experience and freedom to learn about art and explore their creativity with different mediums in our  house/studio with us there to provide the materials and the guidance.  What a gift for us to be able to spend that kind of time with them,  That's the biggest blessing of all.

Grandpa's drawing
Ahshayla's drawing
 Ahshayla's drawing is real, fresh and exciting.  She followed his directions and, I think, learned a great deal.  For certain, we all had a great time together.
art lesson with Papa Raffy (aka grandpa)





FUN FUN FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Love to all