art, soil, theatre, colours

I have so much to say!

A couple of weeks ago I became a teacher for kids! One painting class, two craft classes. I was supposed tο teach art history, but I knew I would not keep the attention of 10-year-olds for two hours unless they created something while I talked to them. My subject was mr Vincent van Gogh... 

Painting class was easy. They saw "The Starry Night" and the "Vase with Sunflowers" and tried to copy them. In the mean time I asked them at least one hundred times for his name, his place of birth and other little trivia which were easy to remember. It became our little shouting poem! It amazed me how they grasped the colours and even surpassed the great dutch master in brushstrokes... I was so nervous, I forgot to take pictures...

The following week I was going to teach the craft classes. Mr Vincent again. I was terrified. A group collage of the sunflower painting. The class had to cut, colour, paste their flowers and paint the final background. One hundred times the mr Vincent poem. We just about made the two hours and all I was left with was a bombed class! I had to wash everything and tidy up after the storm! In truth I didn't mind! I had so much fun! The result was a bit intimidating and weak just like I was! Such a mirror! 

The next day I was less scared. This time they had to do a group collage of the starry night. I was ready. I separated them in teams. One team had to do the stars, the other the waves on the sky and a third team the tree in the middle. This time I was calmer, had learned the mr Vincent poem veeery well - we repeated it one hundred times... Once more, both classes amazed me with their sense of colour and understanding of hues. The result was simply breath-taking and I do hope they had as much fun as I had. This time I asked them to help me tidy up, wash the brushes and pick up their chairs. I'm kinda falling in love with teaching!

Next month it's Picasso month. I have to find an idea for the craft classes. They will be bored if they do a collage again... I am open to suggestions!

before

after

after two months

The other thing I have been doing for the past two months is a small garden in the back of the block of flats I live in. When I moved there, I saw these HUGE flower beds and I thought about all this free soil that had to have food grown in them. I planted parsley, dill, two kinds of lettuce, coliflower, broccoli and rocket. All this, next to the 2 big rose trees that where already there. I think the roses felt really happy because as soon as I cleared the soil from the weeds and started watering them regularly, they gave me the most amazing roses to cut and keep in my house! My little plants are growing and I find peace of mind when caring for them...

 Finally, I enrolled to the town's amature theatre classes. Every weekend I will be exploring the wonders of theatre - I'm not a newby on stage, but I've never done theatre before...

Meanwhile I enjoy the winter temperatures and the bright November sun that shines every morning! In my walks with Freeda I take wonderful photos... All these reds and oranges, all these trees and vines losing their foliage... Autumn is such a magic time of the year! 

Mind you, I do all these wonderful things which do not require money. The theatre classes cost me 30 euros per year and the seeds for my plants reached the astronomical amout of 10 euros. 

The classes I teach give me enough to get by. The gallery work is still voluntary and requires a lot of time and effort... I think I'll try and reduce the hours I spend there... On the other hand, I have so many wonderful things to do and I meet so many wonderful people!

Life is a wonder!

on words and silence

Words we say.
Words we don't say.
Words that have another meaning.
Words camouflaged as feelings.

There comes a time when you have to feel beyond the words you hear. And this is very tiring. I wish each and everyone of us had a way of using words sincerely, honestly. I wish this was taught to everyone from a very early age. But we haven't. We want to say something and then we say something else. We want to communicate and we make humorous remarks. We are jocking when we want to say we're not feeling very well. We say angry words when we want to say "please listen".

Silence. There is comfortable silence. There is awkward silence. There is the silence filled with joy and understanding. There is the silence which is filled with unexpressed feelings. Weird energetic chemistry about to explode.

How do you treat words?
How do you feel in silence?

I have been wondering about this for a few days.

do not leave your blog without posts...

It's good to have blogger friends, you read their posts and you get the feeling you want to write too.
Except you don't always have a subject.
No.
You have too many subjects and you don't know where to start.

This past week was spent near nature. Near the sea. Away from my life. I was blessed with good company. I was blessed to be able to do it. To travel. To see landscapes from the buses' window. I love passing landscapes. Different colours every season. This time it was red and orange and all the hues in between. I even got to see the sea. We forget the sea. I wish I could live next to the sea and see it's colors all winter long. See how she changes with the seasons.

That does not mean I do not work. I had to prepare for my next lecture in art history. I literally get lost in Renaissance images. I am re-learning all the religious games between the Popes and the Protestants. The propaganda behind the masterpieces. I think my mind is mature enough to filter through the information. When I was younger I did not grasp all the sociology-philosophy behind the imagery. It is more exhiting these days!

Hope your days are bright and filled with love!