When I put a green, it is not grass. When I put a blue, it is not the sky.

Well there was bound to be one day during our 'Art week' that Opeie wasn't all that bothered about, Cutting shapes out of a piece of coloured paper and sticking them down was never going to have the same appeal to a 4 year old as throwing paint around the garden but the whole idea of the week was to show Opeie some different art styles and to show that pretty much anything can be deemed as art.

Our artist of the day was Henri Matisse and his paper cut out style of art. We started with a piece of coloured/patterned paper, cut shapes out and flipped and mounted them on a larger piece of white paper making positive and negative shapes. It was a nice quick activity but as I said Opeie didn't really get in to today's art so I'm going to have to really think about something more entertaining for our next activity.

Our morning of Matisse ending in Opeie doing multi coloured scribbles and us creating a fox paper aeroplane so in the end a great start to a day of creativity.

"To an engineer, good enough means perfect. With an artist, there's no such thing as perfect."

Continuing our week of art and with yesterday's Jackson Pollock paint flicking activity in the garden going so well, we moved on to a new artist with a completely different artistic medium. Alexander Calder was our artist of today and Opeie was looking forward to having some of his creations suspended from the ceiling.

We started by drawing some obscure shapes on different coloured sheets of paper. Then our friends Sam and Jamie visited, so Sam joined in and helped. We cut the shapes out and using transparent cord made a hole in each shape and thread it through. We used 3 straws and tied one of our shapes to each of the 6th ends. Our creation was really droopy which was great as it gave me a chance to explain balance to Opeie and how we shift the weight along the straw to suspend the piece evenly.

The end result was really effective and it was great seeing Opeie's art delicately sway as we opened doors or passed by. It was an important lesson for Opeie in art as he understands more now that art can be created in many forms. We'll definitely be doing this again when Opeie is a little older using wire or metal rods and shapes made of different materials. Calder's other works include wire sculptures which we will also be attempting at some point soon. 

Tomorrows artist in our week of art will be Henri Matisse so stay tuned.

"My painting does not come from the easel"

Since our recent visit to the Tate modern a few weeks back Opeie has developed a new love of art. So much so that he has informed me that when he grows up he now wants to be an artist and wear a pencil behind his ear, which is a big change from the palaeontologist/rockstar that he wanted to be for the past year. During the Tate visit Opeie took a shine to Piet Mondrian's simple grid style pieces using the three primary colours and couldn't wait to get home and recreate the piece in his favourite media, LEGO.

This week at 'Daddy school' we have decided to embrace his new interest and have an 'Art week'. Researching artists and their styles and then having a go ourselves, a different artist for each day. To kick start our week of creativity we chose Jackson Pollock, simply because Opeie liked the sound of flicking paint all over the place. Firstly though Mrs M had to make him look like an artist. So with a dashing moustache that Dali would be proud of we began our artistic endeavours.

I love that most pound shops these days stock A4 or A3 canvas' and I usually keep some in the house for these kind of activities. I found an empty box to fit the canvas into to try and contain some of the paint splashes and then we found all of the paint and brushes we could find in the house. As soon as Opeie started flicking that paint around he was completely focused and he was loving the art that we were creating together.

 

After going through the variety of colours we had in the house we turned the activity on to colour mixing which was a great lesson for our budding little artist. The finished piece came out so much better than I was expecting and most importantly Opeie was really proud of the work he had created.

In 2006, Pollock's piece No.5 which he had created in 1948 became the worlds most expensive painting, when it was sold for $140 million. So I'll be holding on to this for the future, just in case.

"Art is not made for anybody and is, at the same time, for everybody"

It was no surprise that after our trip to the Tate, Opeie wanted to recreate his favourite pieces in LEGO. A great activity for exploring neoplasticism.

"Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit."

Continuing our trip to London last week, me and my mini counterpart had another morning for adventure before jumping on the train and heading home. The Tate is always somewhere we love going, so we made that our next destination. I find the gallery so relaxing and we both love casually walking around taking in all the pieces displayed there.

Its always interesting to hear Opeie's views an what he is seeing, you cant beat the imagination of a child and he picks up on so many things that I don't notice right away. Some of the pieces were a great source of inspiration for him and he informed me of all of his fun arty ideas.

Opeie was drawn in by the colour and simplicity of Piet Mondrian's pieces and he had packed a sketch book and pencils so it gave us a chance to sit down and draw. The Tate is so peaceful even if it is busy and we could have sat there all morning drawing but there was more art to be looked at before we made our way back home.

There was a great exhibition by Simryn Gill, which was a series photos of people from the artists home town in Malaysia, with their faces hidden by tropical fruit. Opeie thought it was very entertaining.

Opeie was desperate to get in on the action, so I found an apple from out of my back pack so that Opeie could join in the fun....

We ended up staying in the gallery all morning and then headed to the train station to get home. It was a great end to another cultural trip to London. We adore London but only in short bursts as it is so busy. Tired but smiling we made our way home to a snowy Shropshire.

"Miracles can happen, even to those who are small, flammable, and dressed all in black."

Its a family tradition on Christmas eve before bed to read a new Christmas themed book together as a family, which tomorrow we will be enjoying together on our Christmas eve. Tonight though it would have felt wrong to not have read a festive book, despite the fact that Seth wasn't with us. So tonight, as we tucked Opeie up in bed we read my second favourite Christmas story.

THE LUMP OF COAL by Lemony Snicket isn't your average Christmas story, there are no happy elves and a clear lack of the usual cheer. The story though is beautifully written and is everything you want in a festive story, leaving you feeling all warm inside.

 the lump of coal wants nothing more than to be an artist and spend his days creating abstract art. If that's not possible though he would settle for helping out on a Barbeque, cooking vegetables and meat. This story is set in winter though and a good BBQ is hard to come by. Sadly the people that cross his path end up being quite rude and attempt to shatter his dreams until he has a chance meeting with a pharmacy hired Santa clause handing out coupons, who sends him on a new path.

 A present in the stocking of an naughty child doesn't sound like the best place for an artistic piece of coal to live out his days but that chance meeting sets him on the path to happiness and the Lump of coal fulfills all of his wildest dreams. The lump of coal has a great message and is a brimming with some of the magic which surrounds this exciting time of year.

Our bed time story added a little extra excitement for Opeie and we're all looking forward to the big day. Merry Christmas all.

"The wailing owl Screams solitary to the mournful moon."

Before our recent visit to the Sea life centre in Birmingham the boys spotted a big colourful owl outside that dominated the remainder of our afternoon. After we had had our fill of fish and finished adoring the seahorses we set about our mission to spot as many of the owls from the Big Hoot as we could. I love how lots of local artists and business' have come together and created a colourful trail spanning over a huge area of Birmingham.

We had around an hour and a half before leaving to pick Mrs M up from work so we only had the chance to get to the owls situated around the town centre, the great thing is though, they are everywhere and the boys were so excited going from owl to owl. I wont hoot on too much (haha) as I think these beautifully decorated statues speak for themselves. Here's the ones we managed to find...

Our favourite was definitely the phone box and although we didn't get to see them all the unexpected adventure really made our afternoon. I was a little gutted when I noticed on my friend Aidens fb page that there was a Captain America one hiding but the owls are about until the 27th of September so maybe me and Opeie can get out and find the rest before they are auctioned off to raise much needed money for Birmingham children's hospital.