Creative Distractions

On Sunday I was the first adult to primary, but not the first person. The room already held several children. We have a two-deep leadership policy, which for me means, in part, not being the only adult in the room. While I waited for another grownup to come in, I leaned against the doorway and asked who wanted to draw a picture of a temple on the chalkboard. Several hands went up and I encouraged them to go for it.

This temple has a mustache instead of an Angel Moroni. I didn't realize this until one of the kids pointed it out during singing time. I thought it was a propeller.

Topher drew the temple on the right. He said he patterned it after the Washington D.C. temple.

The kids were all pleased with their art and none of them seemed to realize it was a diversionary tactic.

Snowmen at Play

During art class, Sophie was given the assignment to finish a picture by practicing shading. I think it turned out well.

Art on Display

Last week was the art show at both the intermediate school and the elementary school. Topher and I got to pop in while Sophie was at rehearsal to see her sweet watercolor painting of a red panda. She happened to be backstage at the time, saw us walking down the hall, and ran over to meet us in the gallery (the school library).

Here's Topher's very fun bird, created with pastels. He wasn't with me when I saw his art, which is why I didn't get a picture of him with his work.

The Art of Togetherness

I've been taking a Zoom watercolor class this month. It's stretched me outside of my comfort zone. On On Monday, when everyone was home for the holiday, I pulled out my $6 watercolor set and sat at the table to practice. Almost immediately, Topher joined me and wanted to paint, Then Sophie and Peter and Phoebe joined too. Phoebe didn't stay with us too long since she had a stomach bug and had to go through up.

And on that note, here is the art we created this week.

Topher:

Sophie:

Phoebe:

Peter:

Me:

Topher, inspired by a piece Sophie created:

Sophie, the piece that inspired Topher:

The Artist's Brain

This morning I attended a Relief Society activity that taught art therapy as a form of self-care. I went because my friend was teaching it and because I'm a social creature. But I was anxious.

Confession: creating visual art is not relaxing for me.

I've never been a doodler. The few painting classes I've attended end up being stressful. I cannot for the life of me figure out water coloring. I hear it's super easy, but I feel like a kindergartener among college level artists when I try. I love to look at art, I appreciate what others do, but I don't enjoy doing it myself. My hands feel awkward and clunky, like the hand-eye coordination required to make something pretty skipped me.  I don't even like coloring.

I planned to keep all of this inside my head. I just wanted to support my friend.

But somehow I let all these feelings come out of my mouth. I was lighthearted in the way that I said it, but I still said that I didn't enjoy the very joyful activity that she was sharing. And I felt pretty lousy about that. However, my oversharing of my insecurities actually led to a great conversation and I left with some soul searching questions about why I feel this way.

I've thought about it for most of the day.

I think part of the issue is that so much of my brain is used for cleaning up after other people, the mess required for visual creativity is not appealing to me. Sometimes I simply don't have the energy, or the time, or the mental space. I make so many decisions for other people all day long, I don't want to make any artistic decisions. And yet I built bookcases and paint the walls of my house. I know those are creative, but they feel more functional. I'm talking about art for art's sake.

I wonder why writing and music and theatre, all incredibly creative and artistic pursuits, don't scare me the way drawing a picture does. Rather, they fill my soul.

This reminds me of my feelings about the color pink. I used to hate the color pink. I mean HATE it. And then almost sixteen years ago we found out we were expecting a baby girl and I was hit with the realization that she might love the color pink, and of course I would want to support her in that. So I had to untangle why I hated pink. It turned out there was a lot to unpack and it took a few years to realize I don't hate pink, I just really disliked the connotations my brain had connected to pink.

I wonder if creating visual art falls into that category for me. Perhaps it's not the art itself, but all my feelings that are connected to it. Maybe it has more to do with my recovering perfectionism, I don't know how to make messy, terrible, in-process art, so I don't make it at all. Maybe I'm wound so tight from everything else I have going on that I can't let my brain relax enough to let it be a peaceful activity. Maybe my constant need to be productive to prove my worth keeps me from sitting and creating. Maybe the brain fog that threatens to follow me wherever I go makes the thought of learning a new skill exhausting.

Maybe I'm not going to solve this in one day.

I know the purpose of the activity was to relax and make something creative. I did participate and I made the art project. But I think the therapy portion of the art therapy session went a lot deeper than I was expecting.

And I think that's a good thing.

Out With the Old

New Year's Eve was full of games,

gingerbread house decorating from

Topher and

Cooper and

Phoebe and

Sophie and

Peter,

viewing White Christmas and Singing In the Rain (which I didn't take pictures of), and a Bluey themed countdown.

Happy New Year to all!

The Work of Christmas

Before we get to Christmas, the Saturday prior to Christmas was full of celebration. 

In the morning we had our ward Christmas party. After the movie nativity we made last year, I wanted to do something a little simpler. In March the idea came to me that all the Primary kids should draw pictures of the scenes of the nativity and we would put them on the wall like an art gallery. We asked the kids to draw them during singing time a few Sundays in November and December. But the last Sunday we planned to finish the project, church was canceled due to snow. We sent out a message to all parents of primary kids and asked them to have the kids do the final picture at home. We got fewer of that one, but the ones they did were awesome.

We set it up before the party started. I love how it turned out.

The first picture was of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.

The second picture was of the angels and shepherds.

The final picture was of the Wise Men and the star.

When the party was over we rushed home and loaded up the car for our final kid choir performance of the season. We had been invited to sing downtown in a nearby city that is famous for its Christmas traditions. We sang to draw in crowds and bring their attention to an emergency shelter that our youth serve at once a month during the cold time of the year. Our set was about an hour long. We performed the same songs we'd done at the interfaith concert, as well as standard Christmas carols. Bryan came as the sound guy and set up the mics and speaker. Just as we were about to start we discovered that our entire file of audio tracks had disappeared. While my friend and I directed the singers, Bryan recreated the set list on the fly by remotely connecting to his desktop at home. He's amazing and I'm so thankful for him!

We were all chilly, but it was warmer than it had been for most of the week, a miracle that we were grateful for. Many of our singers couldn't be there, but we had some bonus singers in friends and siblings that joined us, so we had enough people to be heard! We performed in a courtyard next to an inn on a busy street for foot traffic. We had a steady audience the whole time, though not everyone stayed for all the songs. Those that listened seemed appreciative of what the kids were doing. And we're glad we could help the emergency shelter in their fundraising efforts.

School Days

I went to Topher's parent teacher conference today. His teacher said he's one of the highest readers in the class and is fantastic at math. She said she can tell that he wants to do well in school and puts a lot of effort into his work. She also said that sometimes he struggles with keeping his hands to himself. I assured her that we would chat with him about that.

It threw me a little to see his picture labeled Christopher, but his teacher called him Topher, so I guess he's using both names?

The wall outside his classroom had this fun art project on it. Each kid drew a picture of one of their favorite things and those items are displayed as the kind of balloons you would see at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Topher drew a polar bear. I'm not at all surprised.

Fancy Friends

Sophie had a grand evening yesterday. She attended a fancy dinner party that her good friend threw. There were four attendees (including the hostess) and two parents who acted as waiters. We (yep, I was one of them) even costumed in white dress shirts and blacks slacks so we could be totally in character. 

Sophie was given the assignment to contribute potatoes to the meal. I talked her through how to cook them in the instant pot and Bryan supervised the mashing and seasoning. They were the perfect compliment to the pork tenderloin main dish.

After the fancy dinner, the girls decorated masks, had a dance party, covered their faces in glitter, made raspberry frosting for their brownie dessert, and sang in harmony. It was a grand night for all.

And they've informed the moms that they plan to do it again next week.

An Artist's Best Tools

Sophie and Topher have been trying to finish their library summer reading program charts. Finger painting was one of the boxes to check off. We bought the paint a few weeks ago and I kept putting it off. Well, today was finally the day.

Sophie was very artistic and conservative in her paint usage.

Topher loved the gloopy feeling of it on his fingers. And he loved smooshing the colors around. It's been ten hours since he painted and the paper is still wet in a few spots. Thankfully, it appears to be as washable as the box promised, otherwise multiple surfaces in my house would now be much more colorful.

That Looks Good Enough to Eat

Tonight for YM/YW activities Cooper, Phoebe, and Sophie decorated mini cakes, which was an idea that Sophie had come up with.

Can you tell which cake belongs to which kid?

Artfully Done

Sophie and Topher attended their last art class of the summer at the library today. They learned about Oliver Jeffers (one of my favorite children's book writers and artists) and drew crayons modeled after the ones he drew in The Day the Crayons Quit. They've enjoyed this series and have created some cool pieces.

Fancy Digits

What happens when the mom sleeps in and Sophie is unexpectedly and unintentionally in charge of Topher?

In related news, we appear to be out of nail polish remover.

Oh No! My Hat!

Topher and Sophie had fun at the library today. They attended an art class about the work of Jon Klassen, listened to a few of his stories, then tried their hand at imitating some of his art.

And then we stayed for another hour and a half, reading books, going on scavenger hunts, playing games, and collecting prizes.

We really love the library.