Friday, November 2, 2007

The quotidian

We had a fun history lesson today learning about Queen Nzinga of Angola who managed at the height of the slave trade in the seventeenth century to keep the Portugese from decimating her people by being a very wily woman, indeed. Then we carved up some potatoes and created some faux adinkra on paper. Lots of messy fun and right up A's alley since she would spend every waking moment creating some form of art if left to her own devices. She took it upon herself to make a "Happy Birthday" sign for D. that morphed into a painstakingly detailed design triumph, and she makes a card for one of her relatives or friends every day. (I'm working on sending these, really; I just can't keep up with her.)

D., for his part, decided that painting with a seagull feather he found outside was more fun than the potatoes. Being the mutant neat-freak that he is, he would paint until he noticed a speck of paint on his hands, then run over to the sink and scrub. Then he'd run back and paint for another minute or two, then back to the sink. It's a miracle he finished a picture at all, but eventually he did.

One of the best things about our neighborhood is that one of the few stores that are actually nearby carries decent art supplies for a really good price, so A. and I are hoping to tackle watercolors in the near future. She also has a huge new sketchbook and has been learning about contour drawing, so we may well have some more fabulous artworks to post soon.

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