a gentle summer day....

Today was one of those almost perfect days for our 2010 summer and it was a moment where the sun prints were glowing and flowing in our courtyard. The shadow prints delighted the children and the inner child in all of us. Select your objects, position onto the pages, cover and carry outside and expose until the paper appears to be white. Then we come in and dip into water...just "plain water" as one of the boys exclaimed and your images miraculously appear. Easy...success...joy....exuberance... and once again squeals of laughter. We returned to our fabric pages to sew our buttons onto the surface and then back to the courtyard to our spraying box with our tumble dyes to add the last layer of "evidence". When we came in we addressed our envelopes to collect the final bits and clues of information for the investigation. Tomorrow we will iron our final works and mount onto matte boards and label with each artist's name for the gallery reception in the afternoon. The last step will be our scratch process to make a portrait as if a eye witness reporting to the CSI investigators....and clip all together onto the matte board for the cookie and lemonade reception. This is when I really miss having my old self 's energy and stamina. The favorite part was when I could spend one on one quality time with the children or witness the interactions between this very collaborative group of energetic personalities. Ken brought Popsicles for the court yard and then wild abandonment of pure freedom exploring the Inner Urban train and the science interactions in the courtyard with new best friends in a full week of science and art camp activities... goodnight for now for the big girl is exhausted. Thank you God for some wonderful young interns and incredible young free spirits. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart