WILD, WILD Animals!

Of all the places my family and I have lived, I'd probably have to say that the home we had, for just a short year, in southern Indiana was probably my favorite. We lived there between Yip and Yap's 2nd and 3rd birthday. Our home was on a dirt road, in fact it took a couple of miles of dirt roads to reach our house and my front yard was full of apple trees! I had away neighbors that were less than a mile away but I couldn't see any of them from my house because of all the trees between our houses. 

We had one particularly awesome neighbor, John, who kept mowed trails through his woods and built bridges over the deep ditches and streams. When the boys were little he'd let us wander through his woods. 

I decided to make a little detour and show the boys where they used to live and as we drove by John's house I told them stories of their wanderings through his woods and of course, we were all looking towards his trees and you wouldn't believe what we saw! 

His backyard was full of concrete critters! 

He'd made a short faced bear. 

A saber toothed tiger and a wooly mammoth!! How awesome! 

We stopped and asked if we could check out his creations and he was more than happy to show us around. John had started cutting out flat plywood animals and put in his woods, just for fun. Then he just started building bigger and better and more realistic creatures. (John's retired after all!) 

He was telling us that his mammoth is true to size and I was amazed by the hair. How did he do that? John was telling us that for the longest time his mammoth was just painted wood and concrete and then he took tires from the junk yard, cut them into strips, nailed them on and painted them to create hair. Isn't it awesome? 

But by far the coolest was the Bigfoot! Okay, it's not exactly a Bigfoot. John modeled it, full size, after an ape that supposedly existed in China at one time. 

You can see just how HUGE it is! How cool to have your own sculpture garden! I was telling John that if we hadn't moved away I'd have been down the road helping him build his giant creations. I'll definitely have to check up on John and his critters again. Right now he has a couple logs in his front yard that will become a bear! This gives me an idea about what I want to do when all my kids are out of the house someday! 

Art Nights, NO TV!

We have instituted a new rule in our house this school year which is "No TV on School Days". That means no television before school or after school or in the evenings. I must admit I was a bit worried how this would work. Last year I'd regularly allow tv watching while I was making dinner but it never failed to turn into a big fight. "Just one more Mom!" or "It's ALMOST over!". Every school night was full of arguments. I was imagining there would be a lot fights over tv once school started but those only lasted about a week. 

This school year of no television has been so stress free, it's unbelievable! The boys don't even ask to watch television during the week. They do REALLY look forward to Friday nights though when they know they get movie night. Of course the lack of arguments might also have something to do with another change we've made in our school week routine; ART NIGHT.  After dinner on Wednesday nights the kids and I started meeting around the dinner table to do some kind of art. Some nights we would have a theme. For example, in October we did some creepy, scary art. Another week the boys wanted to do something with clay but most nights it's an art free for all. They can do any kind of artwork, painting drawing, building, Legos, as long as it's art. 

Lately though art night has kind of branched out into whatever night they want to do stuff. Which is GREAT! The kids know that television is off limits during the school week but the art supplies aren't. We go through a LOT of paper and a LOT of tape and we make LOTS of messes but I'm really okay with that. 

Yip even had a night where he came up with costumes for his thumb! These were outfits for his thumb "wrestler"! LOL!! 

I've been so happy with how the boys creativity and imagination, problem solving and analytical skills have seemed to blossom this year and I think it has a lot to do with limiting tv and never running dry on art supplies. 

Aren't making messes great?! 

My Artistic Recycler

If I had my way the summer would have been filled with art projects that my boys and I did together. 

It wasn't. 

Instead this is where Yip spent most of his time.

He was constantly found on my laundry room floor he was constantly spreading out the recyclables, cutting and taping and in some cases coloring. 

A motorboat...from a beer box.

And here he's posing with his cardboard pogo stick (left) that he was inspired to sculpt after we stumbled on some images of cardboard sculptures by Christ Gilmour. After Yip built it he emphasized how it was just a "sculpture" and it really couldn't be played on. He was quite serious, as though I couldn't figure that out. 

And then there's the machine gun. See the cardboard that has round indentations? Those are his bullets and he pulls them through the hole just like they'd go through a real machine gun. 

But then....then there are his Wolverine claws. 

I think he's tried making 4 or 5 different versions of these over the summer but THESE were by far the most successful design. He has since learned the meaning of the phrase, "Trial and Error". 

The art teacher in me would have loved to spend the summer in art museums on art drawing walks or doing fabulous huge projects with them....but I'm glad I didn't push it. Because watching his creativity and problem solving grow over the summer has been a real joy and I know it will serve him much better than any art project I could have forced on them! 

Besides he's made buying Christmas gifts really easy for him this year....

DUCT TAPE!! 

Too many....

I've went and done it again. I have found myself with a list a mile long of projects that I need, or want, to work on/get finished but can't figure out just how I'll get them all done. Of course if I stopped cooking, cleaning or doing laundry I'd be able to get everything done with no problems!! 

The boys have been working on a 4H art project off and on for the last week. They decided to do something with paper mache, which was fine with me because I don't mind the mess. But what I thought would be a small little sculpture has ballooned into quite the projects. They both decided to create masks, then decided these masks should be part of their Halloween costume (Wow! Are they thinking ahead or what?) but now we kind of have to create part of the costume to go with the masks to at least take a picture of for their 4H project. It might not make sense otherwise. Yip is working on a Batman mask and Yap is working on a knight's helmet. I sure hope Yahoo doesn't get some crazy idea that I'll make her Rapunzel or something for Halloween!! Can you imagine me trying to figure out a wig for that? 

I finally was able to get halfwayish done with a project of my own this week.

Can you guess what it's supposed to be? 

I'm making a 5 foot stuffed airplane for a friend's Vacation Bible School this summer, well May not really summer. I still have to put two engines on it, wheels, propellers and then spray paint it. I found a great little pattern here and then enlarged it to the scale I needed. Rather than use stuffing the boys helped me wad up newspapers to fill it. 

DR was nice enough to build a wooden frame for me yesterday to put inside the wings. This is going to be hung from the ceiling. I sure hope it works.

I don't mind doing projects like this for friends but I'll be happy when this one is done and out of my house. It's big, bulky and just not really something that's that exciting to work on. 

Maybe it's not exciting because I have 20 zillion other projects I'd rather be working on. I have a half finished dragonfly painting sitting in my bedroom I'm itching to get back to. I still haven't decided just what I want to paint in my bathroom..just that I want to do SOMETHING. I've committed myself to sewing up at least two pairs of Britches for Boys by April. I've got a list of art projects I need to come up with for toddler/preschool playdates for the next few months. 

But the project I am most excited about is getting Amy Morrow to come to our little community to speak about her orphanage in Zambia!! I've followed Amy's blog for a couple years and when she said that she was headed to the States for her annual fundraising trip and still had some speaking dates opened I asked her to come to Kansas. It couldn't hurt to ask right? She agreed and will be in Montezuma, Kansas on Wednesday, April 4th at 7:00 pm. (So I've been making flyers and sending letters for the past few days.) I doubt that many of you reading this blog are close enough to come hear her but check out her blog, what a wonderful story she has to tell! And if you are close, please come!! I'd love to fill our church with people to welcome Amy to Kansas! 

So that's been my list of my many projects I've been working on.

I think I need a nap now :) 

Wyatt Earp and the Horseshoe Cow

Betcha didn't know that we have a larger than life size statue of Wyatt Earp in the middle of Dodge City, KS.

But I betcha aren't surprised by that little tidbit of information either.  

I nice statue too, just a hint of a Kurt Russell influence. Or maybe Wyatt Earp influenced Kurt Russell? 

Betcha didn't know there is a cow made entirely of horseshoes in Dodge City too. I think of the two I'd rather have the horseshoe cow in my front yard though. 

Someday, when my kids are older and I can justify playing around with fire and hot metal with them, I'm going to learn to weld and fill my front yard with tacky yard art made from scrap metal. I once saw a pink flamingo sculpture whose body was made from the gas tank off a motorcycle. It was so cool! I want one. 

Ah, to have life goals! LOL 

Oklahoma City Centennial Land Run Monument

On Memorial Day we also had the chance to see the Land Run Monument in downtown Oklahoma City which was erected for Oklahoma's centennial in 2007. Don't know about the land run? Never seen Tom Cruise's movie Far and Away? Well, read here to catch up on your land run history.





The Land Run Monument begins with a soldier and a cannon, firing the shot to start the run. Twenty-four horses and riders, including a sun-bonneted woman riding sidesaddle, strain for position. A buckboard, two covered wagons, a buggy and a sulky represent some of the many vehicles used in the race. A dog races after a wagon, and a surprised rabbit watches from one side. The 45 figures are 1 1/2 life size and is one of the largest freestanding bronze sculptures in the world. It spans a distance of 365 feet in length by 36 feet in width and over 16 feet in height.

I just loved this sculpture! It was huge and there was no place you could stand where you could adequately take in the action of the entire group. From every angle ther was a new movement and expression and details to discover.

I love the action of this man as he reaches back for his windblown hat.  

Every figure is an individual expressing a unique personality. The contrasting expressions between this couple made me laugh. It's so representative of marriage don't you think?

There were figured tucked into the backs of wagons too.

The best thing about outdoor public sculpture? Touching and climbing it of course! Sometimes that's the only way to fully appreciate the work and detail the sculptor put into a piece.

Every kind of person was represented in this monument. Rich and poor, men and women, the experienced and the naive. A wonderful monument to an amazing event in America's history.

Marker Monday - Easy Plaster Sculptures

I think all kids should have the chance to create sculpture. However, sculpture can be a real mess and there are lots of parents out there who'd rather just avoid sculpture activities altogether. I know parents who don't even like their kids to play with Play Dough! But such tactile activities are important for kids' brain development, plus....it's fun.

I found a sculpture activity that has very little mess or clean up that is great for all ages...which is always the sign of a good activity for our house.

Pour 1/2 cup of powdered plaster in a ziploc bag. Add to that 1/4 cup of warm water. If you have bigger kids you may want to double the quantities. Squeeze the air out of the baggie and seal it tightly. Put the first baggie into another baggie and squeeze all the air out again and seal. Double bagging prevents a mess from a busted bag.

Then the kids do the rest. The water and plaster need to be squeezed and worked together until it is smooth inside the bag. The plaster can be worked for 20 minutes or so before it begins to thicken. Then the plaster can be 'shaped' and poked.

A lot of kids probably won't have the attention span to play with their plaster for 20 minutes straight but remind them to check it occasionally. After the plaster begins to harden remind them that they need to leave it alone so it doesn't turn into a crumbly mess. As it hardens they can feel how the plaster heats up as it sets.

Leave the plaster to sit overnight and remove the baggies in the morning.

The creases from the bags may show up.

The plaster sculpture can be left alone or painted with craft paint.

A great tactile experience with very little mess.

Marker Monday - Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break from school for Yip and Yap. Since we had just went to Taos last month we just spent the week at home. We declared Spring Break as Art Week in our house! I told the boys we would do any sort of art project they wanted. After combing some craft books for inspiration these projects are what they came up with!

Marble Painting

We taped down pieces of paper on the bottom of a box and dropped paint covered marbles inside. The boys rolled the marbles back and forth to create straight paint paths across the paper.

String Painting

I enjoyed this project because it is great for every age.

Watered down paint, dip in some string and go to town.

African Thumb Pianos

The boys found the plans for a thumb piano in one of our books and luckily it was pretty easy. I cut all the wood while the boys sanded. The fender of a Jeep sure works well for a workbench doesn't it? 

Basically, you cut two rectangles and glue 1" cubes between them at the four corners. We used ABC blocks and they worked just fine. Then you add three cross pieces along the top.

 

The outside cross pieces are glued down, the front being slightly thicker than the back. The middle piece is attached with screws at each end. Once you've slid the Popsicle sticks under the middle piece and adjusted them to different lengths the screws are tightened to hold the sticks in place.

Then we decorated them! These have a surprisingly pleasant sound when played.

Paper Mache Bottle People

I actually chose this project just because I hadn't done paper mache in such a long time....and I think it's kinda fun! But soon after I started Yap wanted to make one too. We used a ball of paper for the head and pipe cleaners for the arms and covered em' up!

Mine is the big one...the shamrock superhero. Yip didn't want to make one of these but he sure did want to tell me how I should make mine. So the Shamrock Hero brings colors to all the places in the world with no colors with her laser eyes. The design was Yip's....I just did the grunt work :)

Please excuse her pipe cleaner hair....she's having a Bad Hair Day!

Yap did a great job on his! It's hard to paint on details so he used a Sharpie marker which worked just fine.

The Christmas Go Cart

And finally, for their last art project of the week, they painted their go cart DR helped them build on Christmas Day. They had a ball when I released them with a can of spray paint!!

Overall we had a great Spring Break even though the furthest we got from home was the town park!

How do you spend your Spring Break?