Lazy Summer Day

Here are a few moments from yesterday on the street. They include: reading, being silly, and watching our neighbor carve an eagle sculpture out of a tree stump - cool!

Coco Art

A few pictures Coco drew in bed last night from one of her favorite books, "Me Frida."

Charlie Brown

Did you know this amazing sculpture, Charlie Brown, by Richard Serra is located in the Gap Building in San Francisco? This is on the top of my must see list next time I am in the city.

Mila's Daydreams

My friend sent me a link to these pictures and I fell in love with them. Adele, the genius behind them, describes this as her maternity leave hobby. She likes to imagine what her daughter is dreaming about during naps and then create a picture of her daughter within the dream using objects around the house. Here is a link to a sample clip of some of the pictures and to the artist's blog:

http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/

100th Day of School

Coco celebrated her 100th day of school yesterday and had to bring in a 100 board. One hundred "things" glued onto a board. I had grand ideas for this project but Coco reminded me it was her project and she had even grander plans. I want to make a "Coco" bean tree mom with 100 Coco beans. Ok, Where do I get Coco beans? We decided coffee beans would have to be our substitute. Coco also had the lovely idea of crazy hand made by Coco birds in her forest - so cute!

Art Project powered by Google

Just discovered Art Project by Google and I can't get enough!!!!! Take virtual tours of over 17 famous art museums around the world and look up close at some of your favorite art pieces - amazing!!!!!!

Photo Friday!!!

I am Pippi Longstocking and if you say it fast it's funny.

This was our entry for the 2010 Cedarview Way Scarecrow Days. I made the paper mache face, my husband did the amazing painting of the face and the girls and I created the outfit.

Coco Art

Coco Loco's quote of the day:

Coco: "Mom I can't wait until I am dead."

Me: "Why?"

Coco: "Because when you are an artist and you die then they put your artwork in a museum and I really want my art in a museum."

some original Coco artwork

Coco's Art Blog

My youngest child is quite obsessed with drawing. She does it while watching tv, in the car, in bed (when she is supposed to be sleeping), at school, and in almost all of her down time. I love each and everyone of her pictures but I do not have the room to keep them all. So we started her very own art blog. I take a picture of her masterpiece, she tells me a little bit about it and then we post it on her blog!

Here is a link to Coco's Art Blog.

Presidio Habitats

I came across this article on SF Gate about a new art installation in the Presidio called "Presidio Habitats". Here is an excerpt about it from the article:

The grassland and urban forest between the start and finish is scattered with 10 installations in what amounts to the first-ever site-specific art exhibition in a national park. The show, which took two years to plan and nearly $1 million to construct, is free, a gift from the For-Site Foundation, a San Francisco nonprofit dedicated to the making and understanding of art about place.

Most of the artwork is along trails and among the tall grass and dense cypress, down in the hollows and up in the trees. Each piece represents the artist's response to the preferences of an "animal client" that either lives in the Presidio or did.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/29/DD5H1DDH16.DTL#ixzz0pKPXFLjC

This looks amazing!!! If you want to see it you should make sure to stop by sometime soon, as stated in the article it will be removed after only one year.

20th Street Art

We took the kids to 20th street art gallery today up in Sacramento. It was the 2nd Saturday Art Walk and this gallery was having a reception for their 20/20 show.

Each artist created 20 small panels for this exhibit. Coco's preschool teacher was one of the many talented artists who had pieces in the show. We were all excited to go and see her work. Here are a few examples of the art:

This is Ms. Setsuko's work

Loved these, they used a pointillism technique

My girls were into the butterflies

This is a great show for kids to attend. It was extremely engaging and it opened the door for a little art of our own. When we got home we each attempted our own 20/20 projects but on a smaller scale. Here are our results:

Pointillism and Pumpkins

One of my favorite things to do with my girls is to introduce famous artists through stories and hands on art activities. Recently I came across this excellent idea for introducing George Seurat and Pointillism. I found it on this webpage and then just kind of adapted it for my kids and the current season we are in. First I read them this book:

After reading them the book my husband drew an outline of a pumpkin for them. Next we gave the girls a whole stack of circle stickers (The kind you find in the office supply section). Then we just let them go at it. On their own they came up with the idea of filling in the white areas with dots from their markers - which I must say was a brilliant idea :) Then my oldest wanted to do another pumpkin with just her markers - o.k. by me!! This is what they came up with:

Art Beast Studio

OK I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!! Sactown has been needing something like this for quite some time. I was getting a little tired of having to head out to places like the Bay Area Discovery Museum or Stockton Children's Museum every time I wanted to let the kids explore and get messy indoors. Don't get me wrong I love both of the above mentioned places too but sometimes you just want to stick closer to home especially if you only have a few hours to fill. 

The Art Beast Studio recently opened right here in Sacramento earlier this summer. I have been hearing about it through various places but this last Tuesday I had a friend tell me all about her great experience there and I just couldn't wait a moment longer. After dropping my eldest off at school my youngest and I headed up to "The City" with a friend from play group to check this place out. To our delight it was everything we hoped it would be and then some. It is not a huge physical space but every inch is used to full capacity with well thought out supplies, activities and classes. My daughter and her friend didn't waste anytime exploring the 3 different levels throughout the old Victorian home that has been converted into this space. From the art room to the theatrical play and music room, to the obstacle course and dance room to the outdoor water and banging wall. We packed our own lunch which we enjoyed on their back patio. The girls were able to eat and play, eat and play - truthfully it was just plain hard to get them to stop playing. We got there around 10:00 am and stayed until 1:30. We could have stayed longer but it was time to pick sissy up from school and we didn't want to be late.

Highlights:

The Art Room:

Every art supply you can imagine is in this room and the kids have free access to it all. Clay, paint, moon sand, glue, glitter, paper, scissors, and much much more..........

This alone occupied my daughter for the first full hour. Once her curiosity got the best of her we explored some of the other rooms. No problem we just placed our half finished art projects on a tray and came back to them throughout the visit.

Dress up:

The downstairs room provided the kids with dress up, puppets and puppet theater, instruments and a stage. Once again a hit with my daughter and her friend.

Outdoor area:

Nice spot for a quick picnic with plenty of shade. My daughter loved the simple idea of baby baths filled with soapy water, sponge and a baby doll. She cleaned that baby like there was no tomorrow!

Loft room:

A small room with a loft like playhouse was a hit!

The Stairs:

Once the girls got familiar with the studio they loved running up and down the stairs to the different rooms. This was one of my daughter's favorite parts of the outing.

Next time we will be bringing the whole family. I love that it is open 7 days a week! I would also be interested in trying out one of the classes with my girls, they have quite a few to choose from. Lastly I think we will try out one of the many restaurants in the area for lunch. Once you pay your fee it is good for the entire day. As long as you get your hand stamped you can go in and out as you please.