Winter-Spring 2015 Paper Cuttings and Collages

"View From Lavaux"

"Free Range"

"Blackbird Spring"

"Flustered, Mustard, and Custard"

"Sussex Rooster"

Space Cats!!!!

 Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away.....there were space cats! They started out as cats at night, (see Deep Sparkle Space.....) but some very imaginative children turned them into space cats!

 They were drawn with sharpie pens, colored with water colors, and cut out. Do you see the space ship made with glue and glitter?

 There were some photographs of real cats up on the cupboards, for inspiration, but lots of imagination started to sparkle and was welcomed!!!

 There were different choices for backgrounds to glue the cats to, and watery white tempera paint to splash around to make stars. Wow, this cat is so alive.

 Most of the children also made moons with craters, cut those out, and glued them on.

Some of the cats came right off the page! Space cats!!!!

Olof Witty Knitters

We finally named our charity knitting group. Vanessa, one of the knitters, came up with the name. Olof stands for Our Lady of Lausanne. I crammed most of this beautiful work into a large shoe box! It is going to explode when Dianne, the woman who runs the knitters' charity in Turkey, LILY, opens it!!!! LILY stands for Love in the Language of Yarn. Dianne, a British woman who lives in Turkey, and her friends, sew the squares into blankets for children, and she hires a driver to take all of the blankets, clothing, and other donations to Syrian refugee camps in Turkey. She also started a bakery near a Syrian refugee camp and delivers bread every day. You can see more about her wonderful work on the LILY facebook page.

Beth Curtin's January 2015 Collages

"Ducks."

 
"Snowy Evening."

"January 2015."

Penguin Project

 Here's a mighty cute project I saw on Deep Sparkle Space. We did this project with the 1rst and 2nd graders. It took about one and a half classes. They started by painting some colorful patterned backgrounds.

While those dried they started working on the penguins. First they drew a big "U" on black paper, and cut it out. Next, a smaller white "U". Two "D" shapes made wings. They cut out eyes, beak, and feet.

 The children then had fun rummaging in the collage box for goodies to use to dress their penguins.

 The expressions are so individual and adorable.

 A bit of silver paper from Pepperidge Farm cookies adds a lot of sparkle!

 This is a witch penguin with a flask full of pompom potion and a broom made from a skewer and a piece of wood from a tiny fruit crate. What a great imagination!

 This penguins says, "I'm cold!"

 Look how much care this child took to do squiggles made from string. She also braided string for a scarf and made a broom.

This child was absent the first week, so he didn't have a chance to make a colored background. Most of the children had fun adding snowflakes using white paint and a cotton swab.

Next week I will have children finishing penguins, finishing the following project, "The Princess and the Pea," and starting new projects! Three projects! How do you handle absences and different work speeds? I really want children to be able to work at their own pace, without rushing anyone...but...yikes!

Snowy Paper Bag Houses

 Aren't these little houses adorable? They are made with lunch bags. The children can start by painting their cardboard base white. Then it can dry while they work on the house.

They can draw on the paper bag while it is flat. They can add color with watercolor paints, but I urged them not to get the paint too watery. As usual, a sample project by me was an inspiration for lots of their own enchanting and individual ideas, as you can see.

 They gently stuffed the paper bag with some loosely balled newspaper. Ottilie prepared some newspaper so the children wouldn't stuff large pieces in their houses...that would have caused these delicate bags to rip. We stapled the top of the bags together and an adult used the glue gun to attach the houses to the bases when they were dry enough.

We had some white paper ready for them to make a roof, folded in half, so they could cut both sides of icicles at the same time. We helped them size their roofs so that details on the houses wouldn't be covered up. We wanted them to glue the roof on top but a few children found the stapler and used that.

 Some of the children made a construction paper walkway, pine cone bushes or trees, (which we adults attached with the glue gun,) and a few made some delightful snowmen. Acorns were also added to some yards.

 I must have missed taking pictures of a few of the houses, unfortunately. That's too bad, because they were all so cute!

Stein Am Rhein and Its Medieval Market

 We visited this amazing little Medieval town on the Rhine River in Switzerland this weekend to see the Christmas market.

 I knew it was going to be a pretty town, but I could hardly believe my eyes.

 I feasted my eyes on the murals on the buildings in the square around the Town Hall. Switzerland has taught me to appreciate the subtle beauty of a grayed down color palate.

 The town is beautifully maintained, and the murals are restored from time to time. How did this little town escape uglification?

 There are many images of St. George because there is a Cloister named after him in Stein Am Rhein. Even the manhole covers have St. George on them.

 The Christmas market also wasn't what I was expecting. I thought we were going to be visiting a little market which would show a lot of German influence, since we were close to the border, and I was looking forward to adding to my supply of wooden German Christmas ornaments. But it was a medieval market with a distinct New Age/Lord of the Rings flavor. Do you see the elf ears in this picture? There were many costumed people in attendance.

 We saw a battle demonstration.

 The think this is the syrup stand. Sirop, (in French,) is added to water to flavor it. Children love it.

 The dragon handler is at the end of this row of booths. There was also a blacksmith.

 This is the leather goods stand. The leather goods were amazingly beautiful "pockets" for attaching to your belt. I wish they made pocketbooks, too.

 This is the fur stand, next to the longbow and arrow vendor. We also saw the potions lady, her hair wreathed with herbs and ivy, a man grilling sausages, a fortune teller, some Gandalfian staffs, hand-tooled leather book covers,  jewelry, including cape pins, and a Medieval costume seller.

I wish you could see this painting better. The drawings of the animals really inspired me.

What an amazing place, and what a wonderful place to visit.