sea shells in the sand

This simple beachy craft can be done right on the sand. At home, school or take a box of plaster of paris along to the beach. Form about a 3 X 3 inch square about 1 1/2 inches deep in damp sand. Use petroleum jelly to grease up the inside ridges of a scallop shell. Press the outside of it into the sand in the bottom of your square. If the sand has bits of shells and seaweed in it, that's fine. It'll make an interesting surface. Now fill the sand "box" with plaster of paris. Let it sit for an hour, then carefully remove the block of plaster of paris. Let it sit for several more hours to fully harden. Pull off the shell to see the cast underneath.

If you use a clam shell, grease the outside of it where it has ridges. Then put it in the sand hole with that side toward you (up). You can use a ruffled, rough oyster shell this way, also.

Scratching in the child's name and date makes a nice memento.

a little Jackson Pollock

I walked into my daughter's home 2 weeks ago and spied this painting above her fireplace. Admiring its flow and colors, I was surprised to hear that her 3 1/2 year old son had painted it.

She prepared him by showing him some Pollock paintings at www.kaliweb.com/jacksonpollock/art.htm . Click on Shimmering Substance 1946, Autumn Rhythm 1950, Number 7 1951, and Convergence 1952. They are good examples of his drip style. Then she showed him a video of Jackson Pollock painting at www.youtube.com/ . Do a search for Jackson Pollock action painting, then click on Pollock Painting (1950). I must warn you, though, the video shows Pollock with a cigarette in his mouth. There doesn't seem to be one of him without it. But the video is important to stress the free style. In it he tells of using no preliminary sketches and the freedom to let the painting evolve and change. Nothing is regarded as a mistake. Just the way a young child naturally paints.

Then, just as Pollock worked outside, my daughter laid a fresh canvas out on the lawn. She dressed little Matty in an apron and old rain boots. Using little plastic flip top bottles of craft acrylics, she showed him how to drip and squeeze and spray out the paint. He chose colors and got to work. At a moment when her attention was directed away, he swooshed his hand through the paint, creating what artists call a "happy accident". Then he placed some dried bits of flowers on the wet paint and declared his work completed.