Cave paintings

As part is of a study on early people faith made some of her own cave paintings, she made paint out of a coloured earth that we found and used charcoal from the fire. We looked at some examples online so that she had an idea of the styles they were usually in. This was a really fun hands on project.

jo x

Beach art

The 2nd of January gave us a beautiful sunny day and found us at the beach creating beach art.

We made sculptures from found items, balanced pebbles to make towers and also found some coloured earth at the base of the cliff which Faith mixed with water in a seashell and used to paint on a piece of wood she found. Paintbrushes included feathers, leaves and a stick with a spongy center which when sharpened worked just like a fibre tip pen. 

In a very timely way, this discovery of natural pigment coincided with the delivery of taproot magazine which had an article about creating paint with natural pigments. Amazing how these things happen isn't it. I see more of this in our days.

Jo x

the first seven days

The last week of a year and the first week of the next are some of the best days. Clubs are off, outings are minimal, there's usually lots of leftover food around, present making is finished (at least until march which is our next family birthday), family and friends are visiting, and there's really not a lot to do. It feels like a deep breath, a calming, centering and family time.

Our first seven days have been repetitive in the most lovely of ways, waking up late, leisurely eating, dog walking, board game playing, rain watching (loads of that!), sitting by the fire and staying up late. Bliss.

Oh, and we have another dog.... have i spoken here since that happened? I'm not sure...

In the picture of the 3 dogs, the one on the left is the new one, Storm, she is Sonny's sister and we got her in October as she wasn't being looked after well at the home she had. She is just as sweet and gentle as Sonny is and we are happy to welcome her into our home.

The rain seems to be holding off today, so we are going to walk around a lake, feed the ducks and go for a swim, (Not in the lake -way too cold - in a nearby pool!), and so start the days of more structure, more appointments, more work and in short, more to do.

So, as we dive into the year ahead, happy for the busyness it brings, we will hold onto the space that we had in these weeks and work to create more of that in the year. 

Happy 2014 x 

Jo x