Chalk Pastels | New Yogis | Muddy Piggies

What a hailstorm! Our area was part of the zone that got the worst of it. The jumbo golf sized hail broke through our skylight and it began hailing in our home. The yard and landscaping look something awful and we've been cleaning up since Wednesday. The skylight has been temporarily covered by the roofers and they came out today to measure for our new skylight. The roof will also need to be replaced. Our AC units got banged up badly and my car has hail damage. Needless to say, our garden does not look very good. More than half of it is gone, so we are going to try and replant what we can. Our harvest will just be later than planned.

Onto more fun stuff.

ART
This week we gathered on the covered patio to explore the possibilities of chalk pastels. Chalk pastels hold rich possibilities for layering and blending colors and are texturally engaging. I began by calling attention to the beauty of the chalk pastels. We talked about how these are drawing tools that lay side by side in their tray. One color leads to the next (red leads to orange, orange leads to yellow) just like a rainbow. We talked about how these beautiful drawing tools are like cousins to sidewalk chalk.



Next, I brought the children’s attention to the paper we were using, which was thick, textured paper. One of the pleasures of chalk pastels is their textural relationship with paper!



We discussed how there are several ways to use these drawing tools--we experimented using the flat end of the pastel, the skinny edge, and also the long side of the pastel, and saw the different lines each way made.













The thick, rough paper catches at the pastels and creates a ‘pull’ on them. Chalk pastels initially highlight the weave of the paper, as the chalk settles into the tiny 'troughs' on the paper. As more layers are added, the chalk becomes thicker and the weave is filled in and the texture of the paper changes. We noticed the children's favorite part was blending.







Their work this week was an introduction to this new art medium, which we'll continue using throughout the year. Next week, we'll extend this and add another medium to the chalk pastels.

Yoga this week was on Wednesday so we had some new yogis. I had a meeting at my son's high school that morning so Kellyann held the fort down for that hour, and I'm SO happy she grabbed my camera and captured these shots.













Other Snippets
We discovered the beauty of sea glass on the light table. No worries, all the pieces are large and not sharp.



Some fun in the mud after the storm. I almost, ALMOST joined in on the fun.