Merry lull between Christmas and New Year It's not dull, let's change the atmosphere Online a-plenty In 2020 Now we're almost done Bring on 2021 After the present Zoom fatigue What holds the future? I'm intrigued... Who cannot wait for the Covid all-clear? Dear.....
Spot the brush! Scroll down for answer...I've been making paints. Aside from teaching people how to make malachite into a paint, this was an exploding paint volcano that had 2 functions at once: 1. I assume exploding volcanoes are part of every good homeschool and 2. To make the explosion I precipitated rose madder to extract the pigment to create this beautiful salmon pink. This is the way lake paints are made. Plants yield dyes which are then precipitated over a solid substrate (eg. alum) so the colour mordants onto that, and that becomes the pigment. The pigment has now dried and will be made into paint in 2021. Pinks are special.
A beautiful pink sunset...Download the Carpet Pages show forever here…pink is also light red…
…and was worn by little boys in the past. Speaking of little boys…
…this little boy was the best thing to arrive during the Covid pandemic.
Other highlights were the Carpet Pages show online, the launch of the Ether brush and returning to the Slade after my maternity leave. And of course painting, in December with liquid gold…
…this is a work in progress. For more, see https://www.vaishaliprazmari.co.uk . I've been thinking deeply about painting and painting faces; I am a mama cliche and want to paint my children eventually! To this end, I've developed some new courses…
…including some Masterclasses in painting Faces at https://www.vaishaliprazmariteaching.com where we study the quirks of a nose, the many lines that make up hair, beards, brows… a single subtle shift of a line can make a young nose old, or a quizzical eye angry. These nuances are subtle and they take time. If man (humankind) is the measure of all things, then the face is the measure of a miniature. …
…and over at the Forum www.miniaturepaintingforum.com we've been discussing the book My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk, and will do so at our next monthly meeting. Another book I've been reading is The City of Brass by S.A.Chakraborty, recommended by one of my lovely students.
I love it already and I feel indulgent, making time to read a work of fiction over Christmas and immersing myself so thoroughly in someone else's vivid imagination, yet using the own imagery my mind conjures up. Books do that! And they are also the best gift! Did you get any books? This year I didn't (what happened?!) Instead I got thermal leggings, which are super useful. Christmas is now all about children…
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…so I'll leave you with photos of crap baking and jelly making, a mega soup and my favourite kind of loop - using rice to make the Chinese character for rice (previously we have made the Chinese character for tea with tea on tea-stained paper). Although I am a crap baker (as evidence by the gingerbread teepee/tent I made instead of a house) and as it turns out mediocre jelly maker (it was from a kit - is everybody doing kits these days?), I do a good mega soup.
Bung whatever green vegetables you have combined with a whole jar of pesto and some kind of carb (pasta, pearl barley, potato) and beans and just add water. It'll feed a family of four for 2 days (= more time for you!). Our Chinese character learning is progressing slowly and I'm fascinated by the child brain - he is teaching ME by remembering far better than me, and correcting me when I slip up (often). Wow! Here's to having a cute language buddy and learning together in 2021. I'm so inspired by little-person play and energy and fascinated by the worlds they make for themselves. Art = life = homeschool too for now.
Festively yours,
Vaishali Prazmari
P.S. Santa brought this for the kids; instead of a gingerbread house they can have a real wood house - they don't know yet and they can't read my emails (yet!)
'Twas the night before Christmas, and I set up a dollshouse
Nobody knew this, just me and my spouse
So our children can have a world they control
(And we get some time to ourselves - who knows?!)
This wonderful house is made by Plan Toys
A perfect gift not just for girls - for my boys
The idea of them immersed in their play makes me smile
Montessori recommends we Follow the Child
The Tiger Mama in me will teach them to read
Because paradise is a library indeed
Books are heavenly, and are worlds in themselves
All you need are some good sturdy shelves*
Reggio Emilia’s 100 languages approach
And the Classical one-to-one idea of a coach
There’s also the interesting angle of Steiner
I like some ideas, but declined for my minors
Homeschool, no-school, worldschool, unschool
I like flexischool, but we have a whole whirlpool
As Parenting has now become a Verb
No longer a noun, so I’m a little disturbed
I am a mother but now have to do mother-ing
I cannot just be, I must be doing a thing
Suffice it to say that despite all these which cost fees
Keep ‘em happy and healthy, and just leave ‘em be
ParentING by Vaishali Prazmari
A Work in Progress, always and forever
*also a work in progress, always and forever*