Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Mighty Girls


You might have noticed the Mighty Girl Art button in my sidebar. I signed myself and my niece up for the e-session. It would be really cool if we could sit and create together, but she's ninety minutes away by car, so we'll have to settle for some distance sharing, which is also okay. Hopefully she doesn't mind if I share this little story about her and me. She's my older sister's first child, born a few months before I began dating my now-husband, in 1996. She was the first grandchild on either side of her family, and the next (on each side) was her brother, four years later. In 2001, when we let her know I was growing a baby, she got, well, upset. It turns out, she thought if I had my own baby, if I were a mama, I wouldn't be an auntie anymore--I wouldn't be her auntie anymore.

{Silly. I was her auntie first.}

I'm really glad she wanted to join along in this e-course, but I'll be honest--I'm doing it as much for me as for her! I think my girl-child self would have really enjoyed something like this, and probably needed it badly, although I can't think of any female adult in my life who might have wanted to do it with me at that time, with the exception of my older sister. And so, here is one of the many cool things about this course...Wendy has set it up so that one registration equals lots of girls doing it together. I'd checked with her about the distance: Would it be okay if my niece and I did it together but separately, or should I register us both? But no, one registration was still enough. And my niece is planning to do some of the activities with her younger sister, and I'm doing some with my daughter, and it's a Mighty Girl web just in our family, thanks to Wendy and her vision. Cool, right?

Wendy gives us art journal prompts each week. This is my response to the first one.

We were given the subject of a tree, I didn't choose it. Trees are just following me around lately.
This was created using conte crayon, ink and brush, and bleeding tissue paper. I will admit to struggling with the whole idea of art journaling in the past. Part of me just doesn't get it, probably because there are no rules at all. I tend to think of a journal as one thing, with words, and a sketchbook as something else, but slowly, I'm getting the hang of it. I want to get into an art journal habit, and I think with the help of this course, I just might. Here's my response to the second prompt.


The prompt was something along the lines of, What would your heart look like as it opens? I knew right away I wanted to start with a literal heart (found at The Graphics Fairy site, here). Oh, this was so much fun to doodle.


And here are a couple of the crafts. No forsythia blooms in our yard, sadly (I want some forsythia bushes!), but my daughter and I decorated a fallen maple branch with orange tissue paper--orange because it's currently her favorite color--and placed that in the center of our table. Below it is a wish bowl...along the same lines as the wish jar I put together earlier. I invited the whole family to write down any wish/dream/goal and add it. I'm not sure anyone will take me up on it...


...but it's a pretty little bowl, reminding us to wish. Those items inside right now? The heart-shaped polished stone, the rock that says "Dream," and the silver sand dollar were Christmas gifts to me from my oldest child. I picked up the pine cone one day because I really like its shape.

This post is already a bit long, so I will be back tomorrow with another poem post, sharing a particular favorite of mine. I hope you are doing mighty things, whether they be big or small.

7 comments:

Rose Red said...

I ,ove that you and your niece are doing the art thing together. That is very cool. I am not really close to any of my nieces, which is a bit sad really.

Rose Red said...

LOVE not ,ove.
Sorry!

Madde said...

Fun & great to be doing something togehter with your niece. You can have one of my wishes Amy " I wish that I would be painting more. I really like it, it feels good when I do it and I like what I do. I wish I´d paint more"

Donna Lee said...

I'd add the wish that time would expand so that there was more time for art. I'm not one of those television watchers who bemoans their lack of free time. But there is this work thing that takes up a lot of the hours of my day.

Shell said...

This is a brilliant thing to do along with your niece .. if mine wasn't so tied with art at school at the moment I'd ask her to give it a go.
My niece was also the first grandchild on each side, followed by a brother. Though mine is only about 40 miles away, it can feel like a million ( without own transport) so this is where I find Facebook handy :)

Karen Isaacson said...

what a fun thing to do! I love being an auntie. it's so different from being a mom. and since I don't have a daughter, my relationship with my niece feels extra special. She lives 450 miles away, but was just here on spring break and we got to make art together for the first time. soooo much fun.

Michelle said...

Oh my goodness, the heart sketch is so freaking cool!

I was wondering how this was going and how you two were going to work out the logistics. I'm kind of jealous, but I'm also trying to make peace with my decision to not do the course. I'm pretty convinced Ella would not be open this year, that she'd take it all as "assignments" to pile on. I so don't want to fight with her anymore. I think, seeing the way she's growing this year, that she'll be much more receptive in another year or two. I hope. 'Cause mama really wants to do it. :)