ILoveArtClub...and my first tutorial

As some of you know I run a Saturday morning Art Club. It started as a favour to a mum at my daughter's school who had an 8 year old in need of a bit more creativity than the school curriculum offered. I have three constant pupils and a number of dropper-inners. I have to say without a shadow of a doubt this is one of the best things about my week. Come Saturday morning I can often feel a little exhausted from my week of commuting in and out of central London, those 6am rises, the manicness of trying to get home in time to collect the kids from their various establishments of education and care but by the time ArtClub is over I am re-energised and buzzing with ideas again. Ms Reva joins us very regularly and enjoys the whole process a lot. We talk about Art History in an accessible way, looking at examples of our weekly topics from the Art World past and present. We've done colour wheels and mixing, mobile making, printing, observational drawing, collages...you name it.

Dad's Hat by M - great sense of colour and shape, don't you think?

In an ideal world I would provide more classes and for different age groups. I am mulling over how I can fit this in with everything else I have on at the moment and hoping it will organically transpire at some point in the (not too distant) future. If anyone has any fabulous ideas please share them!

Mum's Fashion by L
mixed media on canvas
painted collage, stitching, ribbon, buttons, what more could you ask for?

Last Saturday was our last ArtClub for a while as we head off to do our different activities over the summer break. The children had been working on a personal project for some time and we managed to get them finished in that session and staged a mini-exhibition in my living room. The kids were so proud of their finished pieces it brought tears to my eyes (literally...it appears I am a total softie after all) I am looking forward to next term already.

look - stitching! I love this...

seaside triptych by E
- shame about the bad photo -
this is a lovely piece with great colours and a nice simple composition

One of the children asked me to come to her birthday party to do Art activities with the kids there. I thought there would be 10 guests so happily agreed. In the end there were 17 (gulp!) but it all went well. The children had a ball and I did too. After much deliberation we did
tye-dyed t-shirts
(sorry about teeny tiny photo)

painted plates

and a banner for the birthday girl (and boy - the extra guests came with an extra birthday person too!)
I don't have anymore photos of the tshirts unfortunately (hard to photograph AND manage 17 kids along with 4 vats of dye - these photos are courtesy of my friend Maaya who popped along to check out the action, thanks Maaya) but there were some truly fabulous creations

birthday girl with her wonderful plate

And now...drum roll please...my first ever tutorial...

Take some old china plates and a couple of shot glasses (my plates cost £1.50 total, shot glasses 20p each)

Add some 5 minute Epoxy Glue to your set of ingredients

apply Epoxy on top and bottom of glasses in thin layer and press together with plates for 5 minutes (or however long it says on the tube you are using)

to achieve something like ...

ta dah...

this cake stand

add some cakes
(and tea for the grown ups of course)

then unleash the hungry gannets...Bliss!

Of course we took it one or two steps further but you don't need to do that...

unless you really want to

...the idea for this cake stand came from my dear friend Ms D who had bought one a bit like this from a neighbourhood fair...'twas made by an SE London collective called "The Skip Sisters", unfortunately I can't find them anywhere on the web to include a link and I thought the idea far too nifty not to be passed on...

ps thanks for all the lovely comments a couple of posts back about the scorched capelet, yours truly and the shades. Unanimous vote that my co-workers exhibited symptoms of stylefreakery. I may have to share this verdict with them, now that I am talking to them again...

Updated to say I have just had an email to say my upcycled kids castoffs have been featured on The Crafty Crow. So I get a really dinky button to put on my sidebar. Way hay! A big welcome to anyone who finds me from that mention and thanks to Cassi for including me. I love The Crafty Crow, it's full of great creative ideas to do with kids - if you haven't already done so make sure you check it out.

awh shucks...

an award, for me, from imagingermonkey...what a treat. To be thought creative and inspiring...what a truly nice thing. Works both ways as I love the things imagingermonkey makes (and she has promised to make one for smallfry2's third birthday in April - way hay!!!)

The Award originally came from
Arte Y Pico's Blog
The Award rules are:
* Post the award on your own blog.(Post who gave it to you)
*Indicate its original link and link to that site. (Arte Y Pico from Uruguay)
*Give the award to 5 other blogs that you enjoy, find creative and inspire you.

so, 5 that I find creative and inspiring...hmm, make that 5 thousand and I might be able to choose. I am amazed on a daily basis by the creativity out there in the blog'o'craft'o'sphere...I suppose if I have to limit it to 5 I will choose...

All the MN crafters (slight cheat but I'm pretty sure no one is looking...)
Angharad
SaltandChocolate
flossieteacakes
kleas

but really, it's for everyone, every blog I read and every crafter I communicate with - I find you all inspiring!

The DustMotes Mobile for Elsie Marley's mobile swap is finally finished and posted off to my swap partner in the US - check out the flickr group to see some wonderful creations



meanwhile, in another (yet another, yes I know, I am a lucky lucky gal) good mail day these three photos arrived from the aforementioned Kleas as part of the scentofwater photoswap I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Kristin put them on cards so I could send them to people but I can tell you now no-one is getting their mitts on these, I love 'em way too much. They'll be up on the wall of my new "artroom" (as Smallfry1 calls it - love that!) as soon as I get them framed...there is a flickr group for this swap too - great images there
I just love that image - the colours, the composition, the empty space on the wall...it's perfect

love these too, wonderful colours, so evocative

...oh, hurrah for the day I found the blog'o'craft'o'sphere, that's all I say...

another happy day...

a lovely gift from jackie in conneticut, a very talented quiltmaker (the quilt on the front of the card is one of hers - don't need to say more do I?)


and a little bit of recycling crafting to meet Meridian's challenge






I've always wanted a needle book, and making one out of some old felted sweaters felt much better than spending a tenner on a Cath Kidston dainty. This is an ongoing challenge that I'll be returning to again and again I suspect, why not join us?


I love the little bow at the back - I was aiming for a kind of vintage lingerie look and by jove I think I've got it!

Other than that, life had been busy. Smallfry 1 is on half term so has been putting me through my paces. We visited Vauxhall City Farm today and stroked some rabbits, oinked at some pigs, listened to hiphop with a couple of ferrets and chased a cow and a bull around a field. Things I don't normally do every day, believe it or not.

I've also started up a little art club for local kids - it's something I've been mulling over for a long time now, children in the UK don't get much opportunity to be artistically creative at school so I'm hoping to plug that gap in my own slight way. Had my first half day session with 4 kids last week and we had a lot of fun. Next one is tomorrow...wish me luck...