Happy Friday! My days of family time have been wonderful so far and I am happy to pop back into the blog world this morning as my fellas are still sleeping, tired from many fun adventures so far. As we are drifting in and out of our first days post school I wanted to share my guest blogger for this week. I love her inspiring ideas she does with children and art and enjoy her wonderful blog Paint Cut Paste. I am sure you will enjoy this post she has done special for you here. It combine 2 of my most favorite things in the world- wood and holey rocks! Welcome Jen, thank you so much for guest blogging for me!
Jen Berlingo is an art psychotherapist, and mom to a radiant four-year-old little lady. Her blog, Paint Cut Paste aims to inspire parents, teachers, and caregivers by sharing developmentally appropriate ideas to elicit creative expression, mostly with materials you likely have at home. You can follow Jen’s art-ventures on facebook and on twitter.
i am so honored to share this natural creation with all of you mamaroots readers, as this is one of the most inspiring blogs by one of our favorite toy makers! while chris is such a master of the woodworking arts, i (sadly) am not, which is why it is strange for me that wood is the primary material for the art i happen to be featuring here. maybe chris just brings out the wood nymph in all of us.
over memorial day weekend, my family enjoyed a stay-cation in our lovely neck of the woods – the sf bay area. we took a long and glorious drive along the pacific coast down highway 1, stopping at various beaches along the way. for me, this is way better than visiting the art store, as natural materials are plentiful, gorgeous, and speak to me the most. one beach we visited was abound with driftwood, and we spent time playing in a lovely driftwood hut.
we brought a few pieces of driftwood home with us, as well as some smooth, flat stones from another nearby beach. my daughter and i spent some time in the backyard, examining these treasures, and ‘listening’ to them. in this process of engaging with raw materials, especially those given of the earth, i am reminded of the words of one of my art therapist mentors, mimi farrelly-hansen, who wrote, “the more i drew from nature, the more i felt a loving, empathic connection to the natural world. i literally fell in love and found myself spontaneously thanking the rose or the twig which had posed for me that day.”
together we decided to create a simple driftwood mobile. we chose four short pieces of driftwood and one stone with a large hole in it for the mobile. after braving the power drill (yes, even this is novel to me) to make holes through the center of each piece of wood, our plans were laid out.
my 4-year-old little artist got to work stringing twine through the drilled holes.
i tied triple-knots at each rung to support the pieces of wood.
after all items were threaded, we tied a loop at the top, and our mobile was finished. uncomplicated beauty.
and such a hit with the cat! yikes!
i hope this inspires many to spend time outside, making friends with natural materials and finding the art in them. much gratitude to you, chris, for this opportunity to share our artful weekend creation on your wonderful blog.
