Word(s) of the Day :: W thru Z

We finished our mother-son art journaling project and, if I'm being honest, I feel a mixture of satisfaction and relief.  It took us a little over two months to reach the letter Z and we changed our focus and direction a few times with our word choices.  Overall, I'm pleased with the time we spent at the kitchen table, talking, sharing ideas, working on our separate pages.  

You can see more of our project here, here, here & here or under the hashtag #gr8ymomartjournal2014 on instagram.

Left (Grady) :: Whimsy
Right (Me) :: Whimsy worksheet

Earlier this summer, I took Grady with me to a professional illustration workshop given by one of my favorite artists, Lisa Congdon, at the Makeshift Society.  We got to meet her and gifted her with Grady's letterpressed poem, Home, and a fun screen printed envelope that I had previously made at the ohhappyday! craft night back in March.  Lisa is a prolific, talented and dedicated artist.  It was an honor to meet her and hear her genius.

The above black and white image was from an online line drawing workshop that Lisa Congdon taught through Creativebug back in March.  If you don't have time for art classes, I highly recommend using Creativebug.  Check out their website.  We have horrible internet here in Valley Ford and I can't watch videos or anything that you have to stream, so I ended up watching this class while I was in Costa Rica back in March and took copious notes.

{Side Note :: If you love to peek into artists' studios and get inspired, check out the links here and here to view Lisa's amazing work space!  Okay, I'll stop gushing, but she is my very, very favorite.)

I finally (and very belatedly) completed the drawing on found photos assignment.  I just love how it turned out.  I worked directly on the photocopied image and cut it out and glued it onto a yellow watercolored background in my journal.  I like how I fancied up his shirt with a little hot pink scalloped ruffle.  Definite whimsy going on.

Grady played around with some of the shapes she mentions in her class.  The word whimsy was a hard one for him to understand.  We read the definition over and over again.

whim·sy

 noun \ˈhwim-zē, ˈwim-\

: a playful or amusing quality : a sense of humor or playfulness

plural whimsies also whimseys

Full Definition of WHIMSY

1

:  whim, caprice

2

:  the quality or state of being whimsical or fanciful whimsy

>

3

:  a fanciful or fantastic device, object, or creation especially in writing or art

Left (Grady) :: Xenophobia!
Right (Me) :: Canning lids + calligraphy pen + ink + watercolors + walnut ink

 We had fun with the word Xenophobia.

xe·no·pho·bia

 noun \ˌze-nə-ˈfō-bē-ə, ˌzē-\

: fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners

Full Definition of XENOPHOBIA

:  fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign

Grady's illustration showed the foreign concept of monkeys zip lining and the strangeness of a dude hang gliding upside down.  Oh, how I love the musings of an 11 year old boy.

I decided to experiment with one of the strange and foreign tools that I had :: calligraphy pen & ink.  I love the look of calligraphy, but always worry that I'll do it wrong, make a mess, tear the paper.  Well, I did make a mess and splattered permanent ink all over myself.  My lines are a bit drippy and uneven, but it was nice to give myself permission to try something new.  I did learn that calligraphy ink is permanent.  After the ink dried I painted over it with walnut ink and watercolors.  No bleeding of the words and I quite liked the end result.

Top (Grady) :: Self-portrat
Bottom (Me) :: Self-portrait with thumbprint cheeks

We're often working on our journals first thing in the morning.  On this day, our word reflected our quiet, tired disposition and guess what?  Yep, we yawned a lot while drawing.

¹yawn

 verb \ˈyȯn, ˈyän\

: to open your mouth wide while taking in breath usually because you are tired or bored

of an opening, hole, etc. : to be deep, large, etc.

Full Definition of YAWN

intransitive verb

1

:  to open wide :  gape

2

:  to open the mouth wide and take a deep breath usually as an involuntary reaction to fatigue or boredom

transitive verb

1

:  to utter with a yawn

2  :  to accomplish with or impel by yawns yawn

ed him to bed — L. L. King> 

Left (Grady) :: Caran d'Ache water-soluble wax pastels
Right (Me) :: Micron pens + watercolors

Getting to the end of this project was a little bit of a letdown.  Our word choices were less than inspiring and I think we both just wanted to be done with it.

¹zap

 interjection \ˈzap\

Definition of ZAP

1

—used to express a sound made by or as if by a gun

2

—used to indicate a sudden or instantaneous occurrence

²zap

 verb

: to attack, destroy, or kill (someone or something) quickly

: to hit (someone or something) with electricity

: to shoot (someone or something) with an electric gun, laser, etc.

Looking back at our finished pages, I'm proud of the dedicated time spent working on this self-imposed assignment.  It really helped us to get back to the basics and remember why we both like to draw.  Hearing Grady's interpretation of words and what images they conjured up for him was a gift to this word-loving mama.  His imagination and sense of humor delighted me throughout our morning sessions.

And while we both feel a little zapped from this project, I think we both will remember the snippets of time spent reading the dictionary, talking about what words mean and pondering who in the hell Roget is.

This project grounded us, once again, and while I don't know what we'll do next - I do know one thing for sure…

44 year old + 11 year old on my birthday

I'd make art alongside this kid any day.