Handiwork...

We have been grateful not to have to schedule "art" into our homeschooling as it has always been a natural part of everyday life. Especially from the children's maternal grandparents and great-grandparents, a wonderful innate gift for drawing and painting, and even a little clay and woodwork has manifested for most since the earliest ages, and from both sides of the family but most directly from their father the children have blossomed with a gift for music, both singing and playing instruments. Lately, we've discovered a new and enjoyable facet for the whole family: pyrography, the art of woodburning, and are happy to say the creative outlet has already taken hold as if a long-held pasttime (though admittedly we are budding pyrographers all!). ​

The draw and appeal is easy: we use wood as a canvas, pencil for sketching out a design, figure, or scene, and then carefully employ a pen-like hot iron to burn the image into the wood. Even the aroma of the artwork is alluring, since the woodsmoke is pleasant and old-timey and the finish is natural and delicious - so far walnut oil and beeswax. 

We had anticipated that everyone would enjoy this kind of creative work but were delighted to find the ease with which the boys particularly have taken to it. We are still working up a small stock to hopefully offer for sale, but so far we've accomplished gnomes, fairy-tale-, classic children's fiction-, fable-, and folklore-images, as well as native birds. We look forward to doing holy images, such as the Sacred Heart, the Immaculate Heart, and favorite saints. Each child (and their mother too) have discovered with practice which tip is their favorite to work with, and we're all getting better with script and shading. We believe and teach that art is not merely personal expression but an expression or reflection of God's truth, goodness, and beauty - and so our inspiration comes from the masters who came before us, and of course from the Master of all. 

Otherwise our summer days so far have been filled with endless tasks outdoors and in - clearing a line for a fence, burning brush and branches, hauling stones for a wall, tending to the garden and animals, preparing for Masses and feasts, prepping for our monthly gatherings, writing letters, enjoying friends and music and food, and all encompassed in the happy feeling that only comes of having all the children under one roof for these months. May our endeavors knit us ever more closely together in the ways that matter most, and may our summer, hot though it may be, last forever!