Craft

Cheeks striking an awkward pose with her
newly sheared fringe - courtesy of barber Papa.

Ha.

In a bid to inject a worthwhile activity to her otherwise humdrum termbreak, I whisked Cheeks to my favourite London museum, National Portrait Gallery, to participate in their 90-min family art workshop.

Completely gratis. Did I mention how much I love museums here?!!!

It was, as always, brilliantly conducted. Using one of its current exhibitions, 'Brilliant Women', as a backdrop for today's activities, the workshop began with a short introduction to portrait painter, Angelica Kauffmann - who she was and the painting styles she favoured. Next, the 16-or-so children (number of, not age group. But you knew that already, didn't you?) were asked to try their hand at silhouette drawing, similar to the one featured on the exhibition poster (see below) .

Children - heads bent over their drawing pads

Cheeks' 1st 'silhouette' pix.

The final activity, which lasted an hour, took place in the basement of the museum in a fairly large room frequently used for their family activities. The children were given step-by-step instructions on how to make a journal using felt fabric and paper. The task involved:

* Sewing paper onto the felt fabric (I had to poke the needle through the fabric/paper for Cheeks while she helped pull the thread through)
* Designing a booktag (drawing, cutting, pasting a design then sewing it to the end of the journal)
* Drawing a silhouette of a person, an animal, or whatever the children wished to include on the cover of their journal
* Cutting and pasting a label onto the 1st page of the journal.

Here's Cheeks, to demonstrate:

And voilà!

Cheeks' 'silhouette' of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster.
Methinks it resembles a wriggly spaghetti strand making a slow descent into water. Ha!

While we were busy getting arty crafty in London, what of my sis? Why, the intrepid mother of 3 is currently flying solo in Rome, exploring the ruins of the Palatino, sticking fingers into every orifice at the v holey Colosseum, and more importantly, checking out the suave and dangerously irresistible Italian men! (Now we know the real reason why she chose to travel alone! Hohoho!) After Rome, she's off to the epicentre of Italian Renaissance, Florence, followed by the Chianti region. Her final port of call will see her ensconced in the shell of her gondola as it plies through Venice's famous waterways.

And that's where we'll join her.

With any luck, we'll be cruising down the Grand Canal together - a glass of bubbly Prosecco in hand, listening to a soothing serenade, a warm breeze through our hair. With the breathtaking Venetian skyline as a backdrop, our brawny gondolier will push the oar through the quiet waters and sail us towards the golden sunset...

I've never been. So I can dream, can't I? :)