Growing Up Creative

Tu Bishvat - an activity book

It seems like the ‘new years’ celebrations are never ending…first we had Rosh Hashanah. Before we knew it came 2009, the Chinese New Year is this weekend and next week is the Jewish new years for the trees or as we call it – Tu-Bishvat (the name is derived from the Hebrew date of the holiday the 15th of the month of Shevat).  I am much exited to share this activity book that I have designed. Please forward it to whom ever you think will enjoy it.
If you have any comments or feedback I would love to hear. 

TU BISHVAT ACTIVITY BOOK (pdf)

Thanks to Jill Sulam from Transformations Editing for editing this Tu Bishvat activity book!

tali

Wendy Mogel

I have never imagined I would be in tears of laughter and emotions from a parenting lecture. I also never thought I would pay $45 to attend one. Well, I just did both. Wendy Mogel the author of “The Blessing Of A Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children” is a brilliant speaker. I must admit I haven’t read her book yet, but I have it in my hands (signed by the author), waiting for my glass of wine…good night

An afternoon snack

I had a brilliant idea for afternoon snack today that I wanted to share with you. I have cut and placed different ingredients in small dishes. I placed the dishes on a lazy Suzan that I got a long time ago at Ikea and never knew what to do with. I gave each girl a plate to use as a canvas. Soon enough they both were exited to compose different images with the small food and I found my self running back and forth from the kitchen to refill the little dishes with more. The images kept on changing with every bite.
Some of the ingredients I have used: raspberries, blackberries, variety of crackers, chatter cheese cut into small squares, plain yogurt, and celery sticks (what ever i had in my fridge)

Suggestion:
1. Offer a variety of color , shape and size, to increase creativity. Veggies cut into strips, cheese cut into squares, etc.
2. offer a soft food to be used as glue/ mortar such as yogurt, cottage cheese, peanut butter.
3. Adding tooth picks can open up many more possibilities of construction by allowing building in 3D.

^{Zoe, a girl}

^{Ori and Tali, our car}

Please share your kids creation on flickr.

Spark 004: Drawing something you like twice

You will need:

Paper/ sketchbook
A drawing tool

First drawing:
Find and object you like to draw.
Sit comfortably in front of it
Draw it, as you like, no instructions or guide lines.

Second drawing:
Find an object you like to draw.
Sit comfortably in front of it
Stare at the object: study its contours (outlines) and shapes by moving a pointed finger from a stretched arm with only one eye open. Move your finger around the object several times as if you are drawing it in the air. Keep going till you feel comfortable to start your drawing.
Start by drawing the larger shapes
Move into smaller shapes
Add light and shadow
Simply draw what you see, just as you see it. In order to do that you have to make sure your eyes are constantly moving from the page to the object, keep your head steady. Don’t get ‘sucked’ into your drawing, the information that you need is in front of you and not in your drawing. Look for edges which describe shapes, not just an outline (an edge is a boundary line between two shapes).  Where a leaf bends it will form a new unique shape. Shadows, colors, textures can help define a shape. Try your best, the more you practice the better you will get, and keep in mind what my intro to drawing teacher – Donna Keegan always said: “it is not the end result that matters, but the process of drawing is what counts”

Lessons from working with Zoe:
Zoe is a strong minded girl who needs to do things her own way. When it came to drawing it was no different. So we came up with this system where she first draws something her way, once she is done she tries it my way. After doing this for few times, I have noticed how her drawing have changed, she started to incorporate things that we have been working on without my guidance. She is doing great at observation and actually looking and really seeing what she is drawing.
I don’t draw for her; I help her find the shapes and edges in the object she is drawing. We talk about what we know about the object, what we think we see and what is actually there. At the end we always have fun looking at the 2 drawings she made. Not for the purpose of identifying which one is better but simply to see the differences between them.
An example:
this is ‘Ketem’ , it is a favorite stuffed animal, therefore a great object to draw.

Zoe's first drawing of 'Ketem', I stayed completely out of her way keeping Ori busy.

After she was done with the first drawing, she started the second one. This time I was close by. She didn't move 'ketem' he was still in the same position as before. The difference was that this time she was looking at 'ketem' while drawing it, only moving her eyes between the page and the object. I interfered only to help her see the difference between what she thinks is there and what she actually sees.
For example:
1. She was straggling with drawing the body of the dog above the head like it appeared to be since in her mind she knows the body usually comes under the head. Once I pointed it out, she could see it.
2. She had a problem seeing the face features in relation to one another, location and size. I helped her locate the line under the eyes pointing out where it needs to be relative to the ears. Once she located the eyes above that line, it was easier for her to locate the rest.
3. The ears started as a smooth contour line. I asked Zoe what were the ears actually like, are they fuzzy or are they smooth. Once she had the answer she also corrected their contour to correspond with uneven edge created by the texture.

When I guide her I usually ask her questions about what she sees without giving her the answers, by having her come up with the answers, I know SHE is making the observations and she knows she figures it out herself.

Q. What should I draw? A. Draw something you like

So you read my post about keeping a sketchbook, and you actually went and got at list two sketchbooks, one for you and one for your child. You possibly warped it with a favorite fabric. You even got a brand new pencil (perhaps 'Ebony' my favorite kind) and sharpened all your old ones. You are ready, set, go…you have been ready for a while just a little stuck.

what now?
How to start?
What to draw? 

Well, anything in front of you, really, But that doesn’t help very much does it?!
“What should I draw?” is a common question for people who are just starting to draw. What I usually tell Zoe (5 ½) when she asks me the same question is “draw something you like” so she ends up drawing flowers, and I end up drawing her drawing flowers….

^{Zoe, Water color}

^{Zoe drawing an Anemone, water color. for meanings and legends of flowers go here}

^{a flower from mussel shells, Zoe and Tali}

Choosing something that you like is very helpful when you are just starting to learn how to draw. I remember my early drawing classes in high school, most of them where cubes and cylinders arranged on a platform, I was not intrigued at all. But one time we had a live model, that was the first time I wasn’t waiting for the bell. Few years later I have started taking a figure drawing class in adult education. I used to take the same class over and over again. After I have heard the same thing enough times, I thought I needed to draw with no interruptions, so I started going to open drawing studios, spent many hours drawing naked models from observation. There are many open studios like that in every city, and they are usually inexpensive. Now I draw anything at all, what ever is in front of me, my favorite though is to draw Zoe and Ori, usually when they are asleep.

Drawing what’s in front of you, or in other words - drawing from observation, is the best way to train the eye to see.

“It is in order to really see, to see ever deeper, ever more intensely, hence to be fully aware and alive, that I draw what the Chinese call ‘The Ten Thousand Things’ around me. Drawing is the discipline by which I constantly rediscover the world” Fredrick Franck, The Zen of Seeing, 1973.

Why don’t you pick up an object you like, something of interest to you, it can be your hand, a toy, a favorite stuffed animal, a flower, etc. place yourself in front of it (comfortably), look at it for a few minutes, only then start putting marks on the paper. Try not to move your head up and down going back and forth from your paper to the object keep your head still, Minimize the movement to your eyes only. do not get 'sucked' into your drawing, you should be mostly looking at the object you are drawing in order to draw it as it is. The information you need is in the subject matter and not in your drawing.
Simply draw what you see, just as you see it – this is one of the most important keys to drawing well.

I have been using a couple of books my self that i think are every helpful in learning how to draw and how to teach your kids how to draw. you may find them here.

The Israeli flag

“At the behest of our leader Herzl, I came to Basle to make preparations for the Zionist Congress. Among many other problems that occupied me then was one that contained something of the essence of the Jewish problem. What flag would we hang in the Congress Hall? Then an idea struck me. We have a flag — and it is blue and white. The talith with which we wrap ourselves when we pray: that is our symbol. Let us take this Talith from its bag and unroll it before the eyes of Israel and the eyes of all nations. So I ordered a blue and white flag with the Shield of David painted upon it.” David Wolffsohn, the second president of the World Zionist Organization (1897)

‘Jewish World/Unwilling flag wavers?’ by Roi Ben-Yehuda, ‘Haaretz’, (an Israeli news paper)
a nicely written article that turned very controversial.

Keeping a calendar/ Time management.

Time flies. Another year has gone by. I love starting a new weekly planner as much as I am sad to put the old one aside. Yes, I still use a physical book to plan my week. I found that if I actually write (as oppose to type) what I need to do in the beginning of the week, and every night before I go to sleep I am very productive and I actually get things done. If I don’t, my days will run loose without being too efficient. Since I am a Virgo, I work great with lists. I can’t begin to work if I don’t clear my table and write my list of what I need to do, my ex working partner used to mock me for that, but she understood. Because I like working with lists and I work on a million things at the same time FranklinCovey is the planner that works best for me. It was introduced to me by my great friend KG. You should defiantly check it out it is a lifesaver indeed.

 ^{my recent purchase at Anthropologie has become part of our morning routine}

Zoe’s time management
Ever since Zoe started kindergarten she has been fascinated with keeping a calendar herself. Few other friends told me the same about their kids. I think it comes from finally understanding the concept of time, and wanting to be in charge of it, (my little super independent girl). So she drafts her chart for the current month. She fills in all the scheduled school activities, sprinkled some birthdays of friends and family, and decorates it with some holiday notes. It was such a great exercise for using a ruler, drafting a chart, writing numbers and words, and creating symbols for the different activities. We hung it by her sink, where she can see it before she goes to sleep and when she gets ready in the morning.

Books 01: A day at the beach

When I find a good book I feel like I want to tell the world about it. So this is me telling the world about two incredibly beautiful children’s books I have read this week. Flotsam by David Wiesner, and Wave by Suzy Lee. Both are wordless picture books about the ocean (I know the beach is probably not the best topic for the winter, but, I couldn’t wait till the summer to tell you about them…). Wave is a simple tale about a little girl’s day at the beach, which begins and ends with a wave. Flotsam is about a boy that finds an object that swept to shore. This object opens a world of fantasy that will take your imagination miles away. With super realistic water colors that make the story even more believable (Zoe kept on asking me if this story is for real…). The story has a great little discovery that I can’t give away.
Both authors are telling a story with no words of most children’s favorite - a day at the beach.  Although each author is taking a completely different approach, both are done extremely well. Hope you and your children enjoy them as much as we do.

Enjoy

Unexpected drawing lessons

It was such a gloomy day today, perfect to go see the Nutcracker, a production of the Bob Baker Marionette Theater in down town LA . What a beautiful show it was, such a great experience. Zoe’s favorite part was the rise of Sugar Plum to the sky at the very end, Ori’s favorite part was the little blue dog and playing with the chubbiest baby that was sitting next to us, my favorite part was the scene with the flutes that became animated and turned into galloping horses, faces and more. The great bonus at the end of the show was the complimentary ice cream, the freshly brewed coffee and the wall of working sketches of the marionettes by the bathroom. Some were beautiful drawings and some were scribbles of lines that meant something only to the person who drew them. Driving home from the show we planned our own puppet show (of course), starting with the story and moving to production. All of a sudden Zoe exclaimed “we have to sketch the puppets first before we make them”. That statement and understanding was already worth the standing inline for the bathroom. That wall was such a great example of seeing drawing as a tool for planning and designing, a tool that help one translate his/ her ideas from a thought to reality. So if you go see the show, don’t forget to go to the bathroom before you go home (the bathroom by the exit door).