Mexican Eye using up wool and
wooden coffee stirrers

There is a lot of change taking place. Since my previous post about all the things I do some of them have become all the things I don't :-) Liberating!! And borne out of necessity...So what's not on the to do list...the biggy, Vice Chair of SHP is for now a fond memory.

The other item is the Sutton Community Art Space which I no longer co-ordinate. A natural conclusion came about in November and after 2 years of bringing Arts and Health to Sutton High Street the Art Space is nestled in my memory bank next to SHP but is also adorning my walls..as I have finally retrieved paintings I made in the Art Space and hung them around our home.

That's not the only thing...having the peace of mind has led to a resurgence of creativity. Been busy making gifts, planning gifts, silk painting, card making, bauble making and decorating the house for Christmas. It's goooood to be back in the swing of things. Ahhhhh....

....& here's a groovy toon to be in the swing of things ...made in my husband's studio - aka being propped up in bed to stay out of the way of 9 kids and 3 mums who were busy planning a wedding gift. That would be the mum's doing the planning while the kids played. So Paolo, my husband, made this Drum & Bass track which has a little twist of the 70's thrown in. Click this Soundcloud link to hear this and Paolo's other creations...a generous variety of sounds & a few with my vocals on them...all available to license. Contact me if you're interested.

Some of the Other Stuff

Between providing an education 'that is suitable' at home, preparing self assessments for myself and my dad, dealing with the year end accounts, the sale of one of my dad's shops, efficiency saving and payroll, vice chairing on board of directors of local housing partnership & being a board champion to community cohesion team I'm also co-ordinating the christmas party for our home ed group, slowly updating www.SamiArt.co.uk , networking, researching, playing tennis and djembe, being wife and mum & all the to do's that brings :-) & it being Paolo's 40th birthday in 12 minutes too. ...between all these things & more...I'm sure many people could run up a huge long list...take a moment to breathe, relax, smile and love life as life loves you :-)

Bismillah Birds

Leading a silk painting workshop last week for around 30 Muslim ladies and some of their children at the ' Pastimes' Seniors club just down the road from me was a treat as I've been so busy with other stuff (more on that later) that silk painting has become a few and far between occurrence for me. . Mostly they worked on Bismillah Birds (see pic) and Allah Muhammad's but there were a few who chose henna designs and mandalas. One lady just painted straight onto canvas which worked so well I'm going to be giving it a go. Another lady painted a beautiful rose..she said the last time she had a paintbrush in her hand was 27 years ago.

The last event I ran was with Muslims funnily enough at a Sufi centre in Feltham. A crazy fun day of creativity with 3 -4 ladies providing artistic workshops for children of all ages. It was a happily haphazard affair that produced lovely end results.

Silk Painting with 13 year old school girls - 40 of them!

This week I returned to a local private girls School, not to play them at Lacrosse and lose, as was customary, back in the day! No, this was the Play of Light and SamiArt Paisley Silk Painting day. 40 girls, loads of silk and gutta and plenty of creative energy flowing based on their theme of Indian / Paisley designs. Their work was inspirational, they (and we) learnt a whole load and worked collaboratively before creating their own personal pieces to take home
It was hard to hear them ask to go to the loo and be told they should have gone in their break, that was the morning session. By the afternoon session, even the Art Teacher had relaxed into the natural flow of bodily functions, granting permissions left, right and center! Better an empty bladder than pee pee pants :-) I suppose it helped that I was quite vocal in asking girls who had finished to please volunteer to top up paints, fill up water bottles, empty dirty water buckets...so they were being sent out of the room on little missions by me and coming back...it's only fair they can pee too!
We were offered a school dinner - what NO CUSTARD!!!! Shocking! However, as we were about to plonk ourselves down with the girls, we were, of course, beckoned to the staff dining room and duly followed. I am so not used to this separation...hey ho!

Not Back to School Time

The kids in the neighbourhood start back at school this week - so many sighs of relief are being breathed. Sometimes I wonder if things would be like that for us if the kids went to school. Nah, I enjoy them being around.
Today's day went like this - woke up late, light brekkie, exercise regime started, hubby goes out to get all the food for my no carb meals this week. Kids begin their home ed day after a late brekkie and are still at it. They've covered photography, arabic, english grammar, italian, IT and now the eldest is on facebook - limited periods only. Wee man has enjoyed drawing rabbits with ninja masks on them. Their work has spanned the day interspersed with lunch, play, go-go's and now it's wee-man's go on the computer. Though quite frankly, the sun is shining and I'd rather be outside
Tomorrow is Pony Day - kids lessons have turned into a family group lesson every Saturday - last week I was attempting a canter. I have cantered and galloped before though not intentionally. Was riding several years ago and the mare that bolted up the field at full gallop was the fastest experience I've had on horseback. I was enjoying the power until the hedge loomed on the brow of the hill and I thought - no, I'm not prepared for that, could end badly for me! Dismounting a horse while yanking her head hard round to the right is a daft but sensible experience and comical for the viewer to behold. In this case the viewer was my mate the farmer on his tractor in the field over the hedge. Boy did he laugh.
Challenges I face this September - mosaic workshop for cancer care centre in Purley, have never done mosaic myself so looking forward to that. ALso the age limit has risen this month as most of the groups are age 35 and up. Need to improve my website and that's been looming like the hedge but I need to jump it this time.

As ever, love life, life loves you

Love's Not Wrong

Major break from creative projects - launching an Arts Festival and running a project for the same arts festival with various elements to it kinda stretched me to the max. Home educating has to fit into that somewhere too - luckily, the arts project was something the kids were fully involved with - hey, we made a music video, wrote a song, performed live on stage, made Light Boxes, put up exhibitions, took down exhibitions, put them up again! Raising the profile of home education through creativity - hooray!
Husband has reclaimed some time from work and is making music regularly again - ahhh, inspiring, we have fun with it, the kids get involved if they want, mostly laughing at mummy's occasional wobbly vocals! Good to laugh! The latest song was written by our eldest and sung by me - though he has a superb singing voice, he's not yet feeling like adding it to the recording. Hey ho!
Did a Silk Suncatcher Birthday Party on Saturday for a 7 year old and friends - fun was had! For me, best part was that the mum, her best mate and 2 much older daughters joined in and made their own suncatchers too - so much more in depth and very rewarding, they all surprised themselves. I keep saying it, creativity is not just for kids!
Had a reshuffle of the living room / office and of the kids bedroom - energy flowing better now decluttering has taken place. Highly recommend a clear out if you want to boost your energy levels - a home detox.
Beating husband at tennis - well, swings and roundabouts really. A set here and a set there and we're pretty well matched though I'm the better player when I keep a lid on the old thoughts and play with right attitude.
Love Life, Life Loves You