Thursday at dawes...may all my days be this full...

I actually did not get much of my planned day's work but I have always been an advocate of an open door approach in my studio. My youngest artist was four and had just as much fun playing with Roxie as he made his own stencil of a butterfly on the small 5 by 5 print papers. He enjoyed a cookie or two while he worked and I gave him three large buckets ...well to collect and store the precious collections little boys enjoy. Abby began experimenting with the stencils and worked quietly as she allowed the problems of the day drift away. The I met a young army veteran who has an incredible gift with sketching and creating lovely, lovely creatures. Sigfried is creating a brochure for Dawes and has given me permission to possibly use some of her images in a screen printing part of this installation. She has had several brain injuries ...God has guided her into my heart already...and I look forward to spending some time together creating. Two educators from the Dawes staff dropped by. Linda and Beth are preparing for the upcoming classes they offer for fifth graders in the next couple of weeks at the Red Barn education building. I invited them to come back and share this creation experience so we will see what the weeks allows them time to put in their lessons. We went over to meet some volunteers who are learning about the Bluebirds and their boxes around the arboretum. They were working with Laurie and Shane in the adjacent education building. Shane took time out of his day to share his red tail hawk and natural collections of evidence of the creatures from the woods. Different skulls and snake skins and feather and well all sorts of interesting things little boys enjoy seeing. Jenny Lynn dropped by and we made connections for upcoming projects with the latest groups arriving here to work and volunteer for Dawes. Priscilla stopped by after her work schedule and she seemed pleased with the plans for the Arbor Day celebration on the 28Th. I began carving my small soft cut stamps...chunky and easy to work with both small and large hands that may be uncomfortable in beginning to make their first marks on paper and fabric.

I am hopeful you have had a great day in your studios. With our blog connections we all need to support each endeavor we are discovering in our studios and know no one succeeds alone. We are so fortunate to be making our works. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart