What might happen if you were to hand a piece of fine art to a 4-year-old …
who is armed with markers?
Magic, that’s what.
Illustrator Mica Angela Hendricks confirmed this in a positively picturesque blog post earlier this year.
Eager to try out a special new sketchbook she’d ordered for herself, Mica attempted to sit down for a bit of “mommy time” drawing when her 4-year-old daughter snapped to attention.
“OOOH! Is that a NEW sketchbook? Can I draw in that too, mama?”
Reluctant to relinquish her project …
(“I’m all about kids’ crafts, but when it comes to my own art projects, I don’t like to share.”)
She told her daughter that she had been planning to add a body to the woman’s face she’d just drawn.
“Well, I will do it,” her daughter declared resolutely, and she grabbed the pen.
One page, Mica resigned … I can sacrifice one page.
She didn’t anticipate the absolute wonder of what came next.
“I had drawn a woman’s face, and she had turned her into a dinosaur-woman. It was beautiful, it was carefree, and I LOVED what she had created,” Mica admitted. “Flipping through my sketchbook, I found another doodle of a face I had not yet finished. She drew a body on it, too, and I was enthralled. It was such a beautiful combination of my style and hers. And she loved being a part of it. She never hesitated in her intent. She wasn’t tentative. She was insistent and confident that she would, of course, improve any illustration I might have done. And the thing is, she DID.”
Image courtesy of Mica Angela Hendricks via Busymockingbird.com
Take a look at some of the magnificent illustrations that resulted from this mother-daughter collaboration and read more about what Mica learned from letting go of her artistic reins in her original post.
If you’re writing a book about cows, you of course get out your camera when your daughter, book designer, and recipe tester come to work in milkmaid braids. When Carol saw what we were doing, she piped up, “Hey, last night on The Voice, Christina Aguilera, as well as one of the contestants, had milkmaid braids.”
Here’s a clip of the contestant singing, then Christina (Voice judge), then our own three stars, Meg, Karina, and Saralou. Oh, and for our photo-of-the-day, former farmhand Samantha in milkmaid braids (from summer before last) after helping milk our cows.
I went looking for a word I’ve shared here before. A word I can say when my lips are pursed (it’s been one of those days), when I have that LOOK on my face; when my leg is being pulled or my arm twisted.
Piffle.
For those of you who think this is just nonsense, you couldn’t be more right. Piffle as a noun is trivial nonsense. As a verb it means to talk or act in a trivial, inept, or ineffective way. Piffled and piffling are acceptable variations.
Piffle is not only a word to know and to write, it’s also good to SAY. Put your nose slightly in the air and say it with me. Piffle.
“The chickens are hungry? Piffle! They’ve been scratching in the wheat field all morning.”
When speaking to recalcitrant teenagers one could say, “Stop piffling; the cow will not milk itself.”
Piffle is a ton-of-fun to say and is the reason TVs get turned off and politicians get tuned out.
I encourage you to know your piffle, to call out, Piffle! and share your piffle with me if you’d care to. Let me know what you find to be … piffle!
Ready to rock the radish?
Photo by thebittenword.com via Wikimedia Commons
Well, okay, maybe I’m not quite hip enough to make that question work,
but the Gery Girls sure are.
This dynamic and darling duo of sisters Lillian (10) and Lyla (7) is “rocking” fruits and veggies from the orchard to the garden in their own snappy CDs.
Under the guitar-picking guidance of their dad, Nashville musician Douglas Gery, the Girls are out to get other kids groovin’ to good food by making get-up-and-dance music.
So, don’t be shy … “Root for the Radish!”
Or, grab a potato sack and get ready to hop your heart out …
Whew! These gals will get your blood pumping.
The Gery Girls also have a Christmas CD that will tickle kids’ funny bones with tunes like “Santa’s Getting Buff.”
Listen to more songs and order CDs (all 4 for $15) at www.gerygirls.com.
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
