a Monday filled with laughter....

Today I met with my young clients...Abby with her new braces and Zoe with incredible energy! We made our self portraits in both pencil and colored pencils with a collage edge frame in bright tissue papers. Abby made a wonderful and pertinent drawing of having her braces for the very first day...I know she had some discomfort but never once complained as the afternoon went on. We took a cookie break and ice water...I was hoping the cold water would help with her new braces. Zoe has never met a vanilla wafer she did not like. After our snack break we mixed up our fiber reactive Seta paints for a tied dyed look and we went out to the courtyard and played with water and the transparent dyes...we had folded the cotton fabrics and dipped them into water and dipped the four corners of their fabrics into the three colors...fuchsia, deep blue and a bright yellow. We went back into the studio while we allowed the paints to set. They worked on another small framed piece to complete on Wednesday. When we went back out to check our fabric we placed circular objects on top of the fabric in the bright sunshine which delighted the girls with a bubble appearance. Mom and Dad came for pick up and they headed out the door with big smiles. On Wednesday we will stamp, layer with more colors and place some stitches in their designs. I now remembered to bring the craft paper to make clean up easier and I have some mono-prints onto my white paint surface...we can make a dozen images using the same materials we played with today. I felt an honor being able to work in a small intimate circle of youthful optimism with these two special little ladies. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart