"You're gonna need a bigger boat!"

Day 121:

I have been so rubbish at writing and taking pictures since my birthday and I really need to get back into the rhythm as it was doing me the world of good mentally. This week has been lush hanging out with Opeie, painting and playing LEGO. Opeie is loving his LEGO photography at the moment so we've been putting a lot of time into that. Hopefully these pictures are all going towards something amazing. Watch this space.

"Insomnia is a vertiginous lucidity that can convert paradise itself into a place of torture."

Day 87:

Life is really starting to get me down, It seems like the only thing I can get right these days is being a dad, which to be fair is a pretty good job as I love that kid to bits. It doesn't look like I'm going to be sleeping tonight as my head is so busy and I'm struggling to clear the noise, so I decided to paint, because it's one of the few things that seems to calm me these days. I'm so thankful for this creative brain of mine, I feel like I'd be a wreck without it.

Struggling to sleep yourself? Heres some handy information from Snoozy Monk about insomnia to get you through.

"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it."

Day 83:

I don't know what we'd do if it wasn't for all the creativity in the house, it seems like we are always drawing and painting these days. Since becoming a single dad the evenings have always been the hardest for me and this whole lockdown thing has just magnified that. That feeling of being alone and disconnected is horrible. sketching has been a huge way of taking my attention off of that and has helped to keep me in a much more positive headspace. It's been great to look back on all the things we have created and I look forward to putting it all into a fun photo diary for Opeie to look back on. 

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart."

Day 71:

Today was one of those days where everything just seemed to fall in to place. A mixture of great moods, fun, creativity and a picnic in the woods. Last year Opeie and I found a really lovely area not too far from where we live which we've used a few times to sit and do home-ed work. This evening we decided to take the garden parasol, a blanket and some art supplies for a relaxing peaceful evening under the trees. Just what we needed to take out minds off the current madness. We took loads of pictures of our paintings but this little guy that joined the party (with his heart shaped markings) really summed up how I was feeling.

“This is the way.”

Day 62:

I never really thought that much of Star Wars, always swayed towards the super heroes instead but over the last few days we've been watching the Mandalorian and I'm pretty hooked. So as todays word over on the #creativelockdownproject is 'Kindness' and Mando is so lovely to Baby Yoda 'this is the way' we went with our pieces. I am loving painting, its really keeping me in a lovely headspace and all this creativity is working wonders for Opeie too.

"Adventure is not outside man; it is within."

Day 55:

Over on the #creativelockdownproject that we have been taking part in, the days word is adventure. At first it made me think of the adventures that we've been missing out on, the trips to the beach and all the places we like to pull up to and paint. Then I reminded myself that 'adventure' is what you make it. So we grabbed our Minifigures and went for a good stomp for a couple of hours, the perfect mini adventure for a lockdown day. 

"Peace begins with a smile."

Day 49:

Todays #creativelockdownproject word was 'Peace', obviously a fitting word for this day but for me it made me think of how much slower life has become since this lockdown period. I sat in the garden today and painted with my favourite peeps and it was perfection, we had nowhere to be and didn't leave the garden all day, LUSH!

"Don't cry because its over, smile because it happened"

Day 26:

Although all of us in this country are living these crazy times in unison and many of us are feeling hard done by because of it, it's important to remember that we all have our own personal struggles and heartaches on top of all this madness and this social distancing is putting a huge barrier between us and the people we love most. Ive found it really difficult over the last few weeks that I couldn't be there in person for a friend I care about as she has just lost her lovely mom and its been playing heavily on my mind. With the funeral being today, Opeie and I decided to have a painting session in her honour, lots of colour and happiness. I asked Opeie what he wanted to paint and he said 'happy sausages'. Ive no idea whether she was a big fan of sausages (I mean they are pretty special) but I'm  sure she would have loved the sentiment.

So todays picture is for you Carol Ann Beale, I hope you are in a better place.

"A work of art is above all an adventure of the mind."

I like to try and make the most of our days in full, it doesn't always happen because at times life just gets in the way but making the most of our time together is really important to me . Its so easy to fall into that headspace of getting to a certain point of the day and deciding that there's no point going out, especially this time of year when the weather is cold and wet. 

After an afternoon out with Opeie's home ed friends on Friday we got home, packed our paints, pens and Becci 😂 and headed over to one of our favourite hideaway spots for an evening of creativity while watching the sun go down. We backed the car up to the edge of the hillside at Titterstones, dropped the seats, opened the boot and we had the perfect relaxing view to accompany a creative mind. 

Nights like this are perfection and are everything we need as a family for calm and clear headspace.

"A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world."

When we started the home ed back up at the start of the month, I had every intention of having a museum week but sadly something happened and it completely threw me. So last week we decided it was time to start making up for that and decided to visit Derby Museum and Art Gallery. I love a museum that grabs your attention straight away and the Natural history section of the museum was pretty much all we needed for a perfect afternoon of visual education.

We can pretty much rate a museum on the amount of beetles we find there and this one did not let us down. Opeie loves Coleoptera displays where he can see his beloved beetles up close. 

After having a look around we fluttered our eyelashes at the front desk and asked whether they would mind us painting while we were there. We've gone ahead and painted without asking in places before and people can be really funny. They were more than happy to let us get arty so we found a nice spot to get set up and let our creative juices flow. Museums and Art galleries are usually quiet but this place was so peaceful. We were both fully relaxed as we painted in perfect surroundings.

It's afternoons like this that really reinforce the decision to home-ed. learning visually in a relaxed environment and at a Childs pace is what education should be. Opeie can take what he wants from a visit like this and the both of us probably came away learning something completely different from each other. It's always important to end a day of learning on a high and it was all smiles as we left Derby. Time to plan our next museum trip.

"Where oils lumber... watercolours prance."

With the last 15 months being like an emotional rollercoaster, it's been really difficult at times to properly relax and get myself (and Opeie) into a good, clear headspace. When you're dealing with a heartbroken kid its hard to think about anything else. Ive been doing my best to keep us both entertained though and have been really surprised at some of the things we have found to relax.

We've always been an arty pair, always creating something and we've used so many different mediums over the years,  I've always avoided watercolour though out of fear. I know that sounds absolutely ridiculous but I was 110% confident in the fact that I couldn't produce something I was proud of and because of that I held Opeie back too (naughty daddy), until now.

With a little creative guidance from someone that knows what they are talking about we found ourself a few weeks back sat at a desk with paper taped down and paints and brushes at the ready. It turns out that painting is one of the most relaxing activities (after LEGO of course) that we could have been doing and definitely nothing to be afraid of. 

There is something so satisfying about experimenting with colours and then turning the experiment into something fun. I can quite easily get a little lost in the activity, which recently I feel pretty thankful for.

Opeie has really been getting into the beetles too but he's also been having fun with colour mixing and creating galaxies (as you can see he's a bit of a Doctor Who fan). I love seeing him get into creative ventures like this, its nice to see him concentrating on something so positive and activities like this are really good for the soul.  

So thanks for the tips, sitting with us and taking the edge off of my watercolour fear, you know who you are. 💜

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”

At least once a year I write about one of our favourite hidden adventure spots in Shropshire. It's not very often that I find a place that I want to keep going back to, but Shropshire has some really interesting places to hang out and has been perfect for Opeie's homeschooling. A friend of ours introduced us to Cosford Grange a few years ago and as soon as we turned into the secret looking drive that leads up to the B&B I was completely hooked by its curious sculptures and interesting looking trees.

The woodland walk sign doesn't really prepare you for what you are about to find as you walk down the steps. The over hanging rock face (if you know the area) doesn't seem like it belongs there, which makes the place really interesting. Add that with the interesting statues, hidden play house and various paganesque and other religious trinkets and you've got yourself a pretty amazing place to visit.

What I love most about the place though is how peaceful it is. In all the times we've been there we've never seen another person, apart from the chap who runs the b&b and because it is so quiet the woodland area is rich in interesting wild and plant life, making it the perfect place for a spot of drawing/painting which we had planned for that afternoon.

After walking along balance beams to get across the pond the boys found a quiet spot under some huge leaves and let their artistic flair run wild. I love those quiet afternoons when hardly anything is said because we're all busy doing something fun and are content in our surroundings.

I'm not sure if Cosford Grange woodland is extremely well thought out or completely random. The trees with all the shoes nailed to it does make me think the latter. Which ever it is though, it really works. Our arty afternoon was so relaxing and again not another person to be seen at all. Just us our canvas' and paint. It is local places like this that really make me feel lucky for being in Shropshire now. Since the day I moved here this place has felt like home and this very special place is the perfect place for adventuring with my two special boys.

"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.

"The path of sound credence is through the thick forest of skepticism."

I love getting out and about adventuring with the boys and we've found some pretty great hidden things to do in Shropshire. Ive recently started running again and last week while i was running through a woodland area I spotted a huge piece of tarpaulin that looked high up in the trees well off the footpath. My sense of intrigue quickly kicked in and I found myself climbing over branches and walking through wet mud to find out what was going on. When I arrived I wasn't disappointed and I knew that I had to show Opeie what I had stumbled across, the find was going to be perfect for some Home ed fun.

What I had found was what looked like a landslide that had unearthed a huge tree and the tree had fallen across the other side of a mini valley with the off shoot of a stream below. Above, someone had built large decking supported by the tree with a tarpaulin roof, pretty amazing. Below, further down the tree was what looked like a cliff tent hanging from the tree like a cocoon, so we're not sure if someone is living there. There was no one about when we arrived so me and my little side kick made the most of the very cool structure.

We had a great conversation about how the decking was being supported and then we started an afternoon of painting, home education at is best. At the start of the summer holiday, after Opeie had been making mini dinosaur footprints in his Play-Doh me and the boys had drawn dinosaur feet, cut them out of cardboard and my good friend Steve had very kindly cut them out of wood for us. We are planning on making dinosaur feet to attach to our shoes for stomping in the mud but first we needed to paint them and the towering structure in the woods was the perfect spot for creating.

I love painting with Opeie but sitting in silent woodland was really relaxing and really added to the experience. We talked about all sorts while we were using our creative flair. Its this sort of thing that really pushed us towards home education, Opeie not being confined to a classroom and instead, sitting outdoors with fresh air taking in the beautiful surroundings.

We spent a good couple of hours on the new woodland base and painted one side of our dinosaur feet. The plan is to visit again this week and paint the remaining side. Opeie had had his fill of painting and wanted to move on to something different...

... a game he simply called dinosaurs in the mud. We got to run around pretending to be different kinds of dinosaurs while Opeie told me lots of facts about his favourite topic at the moment. When we were both shattered and sweaty we lay on the leaf covered ground and played with his dinosaur toys and counted the flowers, awesome. 

All that was left to do after all our forest fun was head home to go and wash our hands. It pays to investigate, get out there! there may be all kinds of fun on your doorstep too.