And so....

Another monthly wrap up!

A lovely trip to Ubud in Bali staying at this fabulous air bnb

 After nearly 2 months of horrendous "haze" in Singapore it was just so lovely to sit out and enjoy the outside.  And where we were staying in Ubud, overlooking a rice field, had the most delightful breezes.

 While we were there we got to watch (from the luxury of the pool) women planting rice in the fields over a few days, a flock of 23 ducks trying their best to undo the good work (which had me leaning over the pool wall clapping my hands trying to scare the ducks away) and late one night the man standing out in the fields in the dark singing a blessing over the rice fields.

 There were cats to befriend...

 fabulous food....

 a gorgeous day at the beach snorkelling in the most divine water (while Matt made promises to come back and climb Agung the volcano)

Matt's goal in the distance.

My view from bed at 6am 

 Kit, Ella and I did a silversmithing workshop

Kit made this for me.

fabulous coffee

 I may have got a tattoo....this is the morning after while it was still quite sore

 I love it to pieces.
The pups were pleased to see us back....

And I had a few gifts for myself...

MEANWHILE, on the creative front:

more weaving

and basket making....which has evolved into these which I am rather obsessed with:

 Meanwhile at school:
In our screen printing after school activity we've been doing layers.  I'm so lucky to be working with my colleague and am learning as much as the kids right now.  This was my tester to make sure all the screens worked.  Next week I will mix my own colours as we start to do a repeated pattern on fabric.

 this year, as I have longer lessons with my students (80 minutes) I've instigated 15 minutes of silent focused drawing at the beginning of each lesson.  I find it calms the kids, gives them a chance to explore, work on what they like etc as it is their own work, time, and I don't grade that work at all. They love it and often moan when I ring the bell to stop.

I also love it as for the most part I draw when they do; if there's room I sit with them as I feel it's important to model.  I have a whole drawing resources section of my classroom with photos, "how to draw", colouring in sheets, old sneakers and other interesting bits and pieces that they can use.  I've been loving working through a series of photos I tore out of a national geographic years ago...

 

right by my drawing resources I've set up some textiles exploration tubs with weaving and sewing for students to "play" with if they finish early.  Last week I had six 5th grade boys getting right into it which makes me EXPLODE with happiness inside.

 Here's a fabulous piece they produced!

Also, I've been tagging along to a few of the grade 11 and 12 art student weekend field trips this year: the last one to a fabulous place called The Gillman Barracks .

We saw an intriguing exhibition with spider webs which really plays into my whole fascination with biomimicry

 We also found some other fabulous and inspiring work:

 Oh, and Halloween:

 And more scary house of horrors for the middle and high school with my wonderful friend Paola.

 and gorgeous cookies created by my wonderful and talented daughter...

 Who's also pretty awesome at redesigning a bedroom....