MIXED MEDIA - COLLAGE - CRAFTS WITH MY KIDS - THE ARTISTIC MOTHER ART GROUP

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Bringing Nature into the Home






As a mother, homemaker and artist, I am always thinking artistically, not just when I am sitting down doing a painting, collage or sewing. Artistic creativity flows into every aspect of my life, including cooking and home decor. For example, when cooking, I think not only of the nourishing benefits of the dish I am making, but of the presentation.

Recently, when the children and I were out enjoying the outdoors, I spotted pine cones everywhere. So we filled the trunk of the mini-van; and when I came home, I set about making little displays with them about the home, bringing the beauty of nature into the home. This was my art for the day. We may use some for a craft later, spraying them with paint and/or sprinkling them with glitter. We may spread some with peanut butter and then roll them in bird seed and put them outside for the birds to enjoy.

This was such a simple thing but very fulfilling. We are enjoying them very much, even my seven year old son, who sees them as great targets for his Nerf guns, is enjoying them in his own way, as he blasts them with one bullet after another. Now I must go and pick up the little pieces that have broken off after his last shooting session.

I would love to know if you have found things in nature that you have used for the home or for your art and what you have done with them. Please share. And if you email me pictures along with your website, I may just post them here. You can find my email address on my profile.

10 comments:

  1. great idea. I am not a big nature girl, but Lily just made some crystals out of a set she got for Christmas. Today she laid them all out and 'awarded' each of the family (including Max) with a crystal (she made different colors for each person). it was very cute.
    http://www.discoverthis.com/smitcrystal.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. I had a bowl of these in the autumn with various leaves and conkers but they werent as big as these. You can fill them with lard and bird seed and they make great winter feeders for the birds

    ReplyDelete
  3. We mae a wreath out of rosemary and then glued things from our nature walks onto it. We ended up with al sorts of pinecones dried flowers, acorns etc on it. The girls loved it! We rubbed some beautiful red leaves with olive oil and glued them on too! I still have one hanging and it kept it's colors beautifully!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Trudy! thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving such a kind comment.I love your blog and will be following, don't want to miss anything! We have a cabin getaway in Central PA situated in the middle of a State Forest and it is so peaceful there that I try to keep a piece of it here at the Jersey shore to remind me of the beauty there. I find beautiful glass containers and creat winter gardens in them. I build them with small plants, mosses and ground covers, bark etc and create a terrarium. They are self sustaining and remind me of the forest on a daily basis. Of course living at the shore we also bring in a multitude of shells, driftwwod and seaglass! So glad I stopped by to visit!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your right!!!Make beauty happen all over your HOME!! It is your heaven on earth, a place of peace and beauty.I bring flowers in every week when it's warm from my yard (even if it's just milk weed buds), and in the winter, I bring in evergreens, twigs, branches and whatever blooms in winter,even if it's a tiny little vase full.....to me this is art! I like this post, very nice tips.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello trudy thanks for your question about combining sketching with stamping. Havent got time to do a tutorial at the moment so here is what I did..I am not sure if it has been done before but I often like to experiment just to be different..its the rebel in me I guess!
    1. Do your sketch in pencil in your sketchbook
    2. get cheap kids watercolours the ones in block form in a palette and paint around your sketch
    3. Stamp some faces etc in dye inks around your sketch
    4. Dry brush white paint over the stamped images slightly to subdue them into the page
    5. Go over any areas with some pencils to add more colour.

    Hope this helps now I challenge you to have a go soon and put your results on here!! Go on have a go and dont say you cant!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I always enjoy bringing in hints of the outdoors - especially during these long cold days of winter. Thank you so much for visiting me and for taking time to comment and introduce yourself. It's so nice to meet you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Those enormous pine cones are incredible! We don't really get pine cones out here and I found myself missing them over the holiday season. We do however have HUGE acorns, so we decorated for fall w/ acorns leaves and a variety of gourds.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love pinecones as decor! They are lovely. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

    xoxo
    crissy

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails