Art (and Crafts) in Motion

Whoa, whoa, and whoa.  I mean, where do I even start to discuss this visual narrative?  What could this all possibly mean, you ask?  Well, when I asked she said,

"Two funny ladies dancing and making crafts."

Of course.

Jean pockets?  Pear-shapes?  The crazy poses?  I want to be a fly on the wall of her brain...

"Where Are We Going?"

I pull drawings like this out of the trash can or off the floor in crumpled ball all the time.  I love how much she enjoys making art these days (the volume is seriously unbelievable), but it's becoming too hard for me to regularly document.

A Yellow Dress

... and the Sun Man.

BIG BLOG DEBUT

I think it's time I make this a shared sister blog. Neve asked me, after drawing a beautiful drawing that I barely gave a nod to, "can I put this picture on my blog?" Oh my, I am an awful, awful person. But before I go and water down the bloggersphere with yet another neglected "proud mom" blog (out of guilt, no less), I could probably condense the White sisters' works into one. She's recently begun showing real interest in drawing and visuals, making some very cool stuff that is different from her sister.

So, I present to you, Neve Rosalie, age 3:

(Fiona's drawing is on the right page, Neve's is on the left.)

And my favorite:

At the risk of sounding like such a mom, I like how she uses color in her drawing. She lets the color dictate the subject. Ok, lame. She's 3, and she uses scented markers. Her artist statement would be "AVOID THE BLACK MARKER. IT SMELLS LIKE LICORICE!" But I still think she's awesome.

Another Disney Remix

but click here for an even cooler version.

Terry Sent This To The Girls From Work

...and we watched it about 10 x.

Better Late Than Never

Fiona has started kindergarten. It's a long story as to why we opted to enroll her 3/4 of the way through the schoolyear (perhaps a future post on casablanca). But in true White/Bennett family fashion, we decided better late than never.

So far so good. She had a good start. She's made friends right off the bat, she's learning about the wonderful world of addition and subtraction (an area of learning completely overlooked by teacher mom), and truly grasping those tricky silent "e"s.

I don't want to leak too many skeletons from her new little school closet/cubby, but she did have a funny/sad episode on Friday that involved a Bingo game, being a sore loser, and tossing a card across the primary colored rug. Oops. Her daily smiley face looked more like a daily unsure-of-this face instead. "Inch by inch, life's a cinch... Yard by yard, life is hard." I keep telling myself that everytime I imagine her in college throwing her art history exam in the face of her professor.

I will be posting her zebra drawing here soon. It was rather extrodinary, if I do say so myself. Oh, and tht reminds me of this:

As I finished up the enrollment process in the principal's office last week, Fiona's delightful teacher met us down there. She was the greatest combination of funny, smart (didn't talk to Fiona like she was a child), and a straight-shooter.

Her: "Is there anything else I should know about her, before we go back to the classroom?"

At this point, I've listed her ethnicity, her doctor's contact info, the names and contact info for those who can pick her up after school, and social security number so many times on various forms, I was sure her teacher was referring to some fun Fiona trivia that she could pass on to the classroom of mediocre children that wait for her. (Only kidding.) So...

Me: "Yes! She is an amazing artist. Her great grandparents were artists, her grandparents are still making art, and her father is an animator and designer, so it kinda runs in the family... you know..."

{silence as her teacher is trying to think of how to write this in her notebook}

Me again: "Seriously, I'm just sayin'... tell her draw you a bird. It's ah-may-zing."

{the secretary who is witnessing this stupid braggart go on and on awkwardly looks down at her paperwork}

Her teacher: "I'm sure she is a fine artist. I was thinking more about what she's allergic to... you know, milk allergy and whatnot?"

Me: "Oh. Nope."

I'm sure she'll change her allergy tune when she sees one of her awesome birds.

{visions of Fiona being lifted in the air by all of her classmates and teachers, crying "more bird!, more bird! more bird!" during art time.}