Collage Collage for big birthday Number 5

We spent our morning celebrating my eldest turning 5 at Collage Collage. It was a little chilly that morning but it was still a treat to spend a winter birthday doing something fun while the snow fell outside.

I just wanted to say outright that I am a fan of Erin and her studio art centre. She began the morning with general colouring to get everyone in the mood and doing something while we waited to everyone to arrive.

Next was a story to fully immerse the kids in the task at hand.

The kids made movable bears. These were not ordinary bears. The kids had free play in any amount of glue, buttons, felt, and pastels. Erin encouraged the kids to talk about their bears and embellish them with all the materials available. The little ones, who were in the 2.5 -3 range, went a little nuts with the glue ( freedom not experienced before) and Erin took it all in stride and encouraged their creativity. I was thwarted in my attempts to control the glue and surrendered to the beauty unfolding before me.

We could have had an art project at home... but truthfully no. This space was perfect for freedom of expression and held 9 little ones' attention for a solid hour.

Our inspirational story.

This is my daughter's to-do list that she started that morning and made me bring to the class. I am not sure if you can read her writing at the top which was instructions for me to make a Hello Kitty cake. I did not complete this task, but had Lyndsay from Coco Cupcakes create some lovely treats for me...photos to come.

Our bears chillin' together while the kids have a snack.

The best part of the morning was gathering all our snacks back up after taking a break and being ready to leave. We have a lovely art project and a group of kids who played so amazingly well together. Here my brother is reading them a story while we gather up our goodies.

I plan to make a return trip sans children so I can have a look at the great selection of art magazines, books and supplies. Erin also stocks handmade creations from many artisans in Vancouver.

This story was heaven as it appealed to both the kids and us grown ups. We shall definitely be checking out Collage Collage more often.

My favourite season.

We were at my favourite seasonal destination. I look forward to the patch at Westham Island Farm all year. We went out last weekend on the last sunny day for awhile. My kids absolutely love going there and now my little one will remember that this is our family tradition.
A friend intentionally set out to create traditions with her kids as she lacked any from her own childhood. It made me start thinking about what my own family could do. We now have enough years in that the patch is an official tradition. We will head out again with my niece and bring home even more orange lovelies.

A visit to the outback....Imagine them BIG.

My garden is in a state of decay. The grass in back section hasn't been mowed in.... I don't know how long. The daughter's garden is an eclectic graveyard of found objects, overgrown weeds and the last of the fall flowers. Gardening this summer was a bit of a luxury and the space was let to go wild. I abandoned my flowers. It is quite established so I just let it go.
This afternoon I reconnected a little bit. I am trying out a new lens on loan from Beau Photo for a job that I have next week photographing bioplastics. My brain has been in overdrive the last few days trying to figure out how to make the products look more dramatic that what I have seen out there.
And then I got distracted. I screwed the new ( to me) lens on to my camera and then went exploring... out to the 'back 40' as I like to call it.
Wow, it is pretty cool back there now. As nothing has been cut back the dead and dying flowers are offering up their seeds for next year's crop. And this lens ..... I think I need one for my own. It is not as if that is going to happen anytime soon so I must enjoy it to its fullest before I need to return it.
I want to blow up all these unadultered images into massive portraits that I will hang all over my home and absorb their images of decay and celebrate the amazing colours and textures that nature offers. Wooohoooo!!!

Ah, this one still has life. I imagine the anther and stamen parts as little faeries dancing around the faerie ring.

These next three can be a series perhaps.

I have not retouched them although I think a little brightening in photoshop would help, but when to stop?? I started playing and was overwhelmed by the subtleties of each change.

To have completely creative time to myself is like gold. I so enjoyed indulging myself in some play time. I did that recently on a one night-overnight with two girlfriends. I felt as I had been freed. I need more time like this.

Can we make it through the whole rainbow?

I couldn't help but post our special meal tonight. We went with a colour theme and the whole meal was eaten by the four year old with extra helpings. She had carrots, veggie burger with cheddar cheese (non-dairy) and barbequed yams . We had fun chatting about what other meals we could have that would only involve one colour and decided perhaps we could stretch it a little and have a red 'shade' night and include a few pink tones. If it is successful I will definitely update with pictures.