Painted Pottery for Father’s Day

I’m finally getting around to posting photos of the pottery Wildman and Cutie Pie painted for J for Father’s Day!  We packed a lunch and met some friends at our local pottery painting studio one afternoon.  I really wanted to work on something myself but with all the chaos of setting up, eating lunch and helping the boys with their projects, I ran out of time.

I absolutely love how the boys’ pieces turned out!  Cutie Pie did an excellent job on the “My Dad Rocks” square plate.  I think it looks rather Impressionistic.  I, of course, helped a little with the lettering 🙂

Wildman went with blue and green stripes for his coffee mug.  The mug is a great size and weight.  It’s manly.  Substantial.  Wildman painted the word “Dad” on the side in green but it didn’t show up very well.  So, I went back and defined the letters with a bit of navy paint.  I think it came out wonderfully!

The boys each signed the bottom of their pieces and I added “Happy Father’s Day 2011”.  I know we’ll keep these dishes forever!  Perhaps, we’ll make this an annual tradition.  Each year we can add a new item to our collection!

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Melbourne Art Festival

This weekend was the 26th Annual Melbourne Art Festival in historic downtown Melbourne.  I took the boys on Sunday while J removed and cut up a tree that had fallen over in our backyard.  I have fond childhood memories of this festival that I hope I can pass along to my boys.

We managed to find a sweet parking spot right near downtown so our walk to get to the action was not too long.  Minimizing our trek is key when I have two small boys in tow…  There were over 250 artist booths set up along the tree-lined streets.  The air heavy with the scent of kettle corn and hot dogs.

Up first was a visit to the frozen lemonade cart.  Two, please!

Then we were on to look at some amazing works of art.  Here are some of my favorites:

This painting was glorious.  I would have this in my home if my money tree would simply grow.

Just look at the texture of the oil paints!  Heavenly!

The boys had fun checking out all of the artists’ wares as well.

There was an area of the festival designated just for children where they could create art to their heart’s content.  The best part was that it was absolutely free of charge.  So, I made sure to tip the wonderful people manning the stations generously.  Like the Balloon Guy who whipped up a couple of guns/hair dryers for Wildman and Cutie Pie:

I enjoyed the spin art station almost as much as the boys did.  It was so cool to watch the paint and glitter splatter out onto the paper.

I might just have to frame the finished products:

By the time we’d finished up in the kids area the boys were dragging.  It was pretty muggy out and the streets were crowded with patrons like this unlikely Rasta Man:

I was ready to call it quits too so we made our way back to the car with me balancing the wet artwork and encouraging my flock to stay together.  But we could not leave before purchasing a bag of yummy kettle corn for the road!

I don’t think there’s a much tastier snack out there than a bag of fresh kettle corn.

It was a wonderful couple of hours filled with nostalgia and truly magnificent art!  I’m so glad that Melbourne puts on this festival year after year.  It’s one of the events I look most forward to attending.