Art – Page 7 – Letters from Home

Concertino in G Major by Vandall

Timothy is an awesome pianist. That is all for today.

Lessons

This exercise for Paige in oil painting was interesting to watch. She painted little squares for days over a long weekend at home. If I understand this correctly, each paper represents the effects of a single color mixed in to the same paints. There are some surprises, and there are some panels that I like more than others. The seventies-looking panel comes from yellow being mixed in everything.

One thing I have learned from having a daughter in art is the power of color to convey a mood. I saw an interesting MFA project on display at BYU earlier this year which used color to track the moods of different people throughout a day. I took pictures of a few of the representations to show the contrasts. Each person tracked his or her mood for 24 hours. Each hour was represented by a color, with each color representing a mood.

The moods of an 18-month old, as documented by her mother. See the patterns and abrupt changes?

Moods of a student with depression and anxiety: see the dullness and little cheer, with black anxiety making appearances?

And here is 24 hours in the life of a yogi. Almost this persuadeth me to be a yogi.

What would the color palette look like for you today? I think we have some power over how we look at our days. I have seen how writing has been a good exercise in framing how I see my life. When I write, I tend to focus on the more rather than the less. It’s helped me frame my experiences with greater perspective. I see how petty I sound when I complain, and I see that I can often find a use for the difficult lessons. When I read my history on this blog, I see a plan emerge for our family, the friends in our path, unexpected opportunities, and experiences that have molded us.

We are almost halfway through October, which is normally a low month for me (think lots of purples), with mostly yellow and orange feelings. I think it’s because I am slowing down and writing. I am not letting myself get over-extended. I am saying no to things. I think it’s healthy to have a mixture of moods in life. I’m also allowing myself to feel what I feel and think what I think. This is a healthy change for me.

Next day addition: I don’t know the name of the person whose work I posted. I thought I took a picture of the name, but can’t find it. I wish I knew!

Happy 21st

In 21 years, Paige has brought so much goodness and grace to this planet. And whimsical art. And beautiful dancing, expressive piano playing, and all the good things ever.

(Sorry for cell phone quality pictures and shadows on her artwork.)

Happy birthday, Paige! We love you.

Father’s Day Card

We celebrated Father’s Day for Richard a week late, since we were fleeing Arizona last Sunday. This illustration Paige created on the card from the kids makes me happy.

Easter girl

I took some time to decorate the house for spring today. I rediscovered this drawing as I went through pictures and frames. This was Paige 19 years ago at Easter time. I hung this on the wall of her quiet room. It made me smile.

Mark’s art

Mark enjoys art class each week, even if it means lots and lots of pencil strokes for dog hair.

I have kept almost every piece of art the kids have created over the years. It’s one of my favorite collections. I keep thinking I will do something special with it, but it hasn’t happened yet. I will probably take pictures of the pieces and make a book for each of them on Shutterfly so I can have a copy, too.

Until then, I enjoy having a child who still brings home drawings for me to put on the refrigerator.

Winner

Paige had two submissions chosen for a drawing from life show at BYU. This one won second place.

Here is the other piece chosen for display.

Mark and I walked through the gallery of the Harris Fine Arts Center at BYU to see the finalists. Memories of my childhood looking through this gallery completed the circle. Finally I know someone whose name is on those little white labels. Good job, Paige!

Diatoms

The library is my friend when I need to simplify concepts in science for Mark. I am teaching him from a high school textbook because it gives us a structure and helps him learn to analyze graphs and data. Many weeks we just use the book as a guide and seek material at the library to make it more interesting.

I love to pick up books of colorful microscope images. Our world is intricate and beautiful at every level. Mark and I spent a few extra days studying microorganisms through art. This is a collage of diatoms, which are single-celled and diverse, representing 10,000 species. They are producers, which mean they photosynthesize and are an important food source in aquatic environments. We couldn’t get over how colorful, intricate, and symmetrical their silica shells look under a microscope.

To do this project, we pulled out papers we had painted before, cut them into shapes, added more color with pencils, and made an Eric Carle style collage. Eric Carle art is something I have done for years with the kids because it is fool-proof. Every collage is a success.

Family update

Richard is a busy Scoutmaster. One night he took Mark with his Scout troop to tour the State Capitol.

1-DSC_0585 — Mark is in his last weeks as a Bear in Cub Scouts.

1-DSC_0598 — Richard is doing an amazing job working with these boys. Recently, all of the deacons completed their requirements for Duty to God. The incentive? Doughnuts.

1-DSC_1137 — Timothy participated in the school district band concert, the only trombone player from his band to be selected.

1-DSC_1150 — Our tree erupted into masses of blossoms, its boughs weighed down in heroic efforts to be lovely. Seriously, we have never seen such blossoms on our magnificent tree.

1-DSC_1191 — We watched our nephew for a couple of weeks and we resurrected the toys and board books from storage to entertain him.

1-DSC_1192 — Mark is our only baseball player this season, and from now on. If the pitch is good you can count on him to get a hit.

1-DSC_1204 — This is the ONLY quilting I have had time to do in a month, but this English Paper piecing project was mostly done by hand, while watching Fixer Upper on Netflix.

1-1-DSC_0630 — Paige moved out of the dorms and into a little apartment on University Avenue owned by my parents. She is attending school this summer. Over the past few weeks we learned that she received a full scholarship and was accepted into two art programs. She declared her major to be Illustration. Sorry, Paige if I have this project oriented the wrong way. I love it in any direction.

1-DSC_2479 — This is an old picture, but Daniel is elusive. Busy with a new job as a clerk at Geneva Rock, playing piano, and studying for an AP test, he has many interesting conversations with friends about Prom coming up in a few weeks.

1-2016-03-12 015 — Photo by Janine Clarke. When I looked at this picture of our Relief Society choir, the first thought was, a stranger would never guess that the little woman with the messy ponytail on the back row is serving as the Relief Society president. I don’t look presidential. I am young. When I sang in this choir I trembled and thought I was going to fall over from fright. See how weak I am? My calling is hard. I hear sad things and the hardest thing is that I want to run to people all the time, but I can’t and shouldn’t. I am not the solution to anybody’s problems, but I do think I can point them to the real solutions in Christ. I do this with hugs, meals, visits, notes, teaching, and prayer. So much of what I do is on my own, but my counselors and secretary are the very best and hold me up in countless ways, whether it’s encouraging words, powdered sugar late at night, driving, taking over when I am too busy with family emergencies, and teaching me. They also make me laugh. I didn’t know them when I asked for them to be in my presidency, but my Father in Heaven knew I needed them.

My Grandmother’s Obituary

1-DSC_0108 — Photo by Rachel Gee. We attended Richard’s dad’s 80th birthday party in St George. Good times.

Winter sights

Snow continues to fall often. Mark’s art on the refrigerator keeps things cheery in the house. When the sun comes out we have dazzling light, reflected off the snow, stream through the house. Today is one of those dazzling days.

Every few days I get a call about someone else that has been hospitalized. Winter has been hard on this neighborhood and my congregation. I feel grateful for health and strength to help, and see real service being rendered by so many people. It is so humbling to have a front row seat to goodness.