Joyeux NOEL

so, you are hoping she grows up to be just like you!

Before Noel was born, every chance I got, I was in Europe. 

Give me a month, a carry-on and a sketchbook; I was hitting all the museums and churchs, hunting down artworks you may  or maynot find in the travel guidebooks.  For years, I never knew you go to Italy to buy leather goods, or there is the Big Ben in London, however, I pride myself with some hard to find Andrea del Sarto , Tiziano and Charles Gleyre! What treasures!

So it's only nature that I want to share that passion with my daughter.  What I was not sure was whether or not she is ready for such trip at age 5, and what astonished me was how much she loved the experience and how much she is just, well, like me!

Noel making drawings in the Vatican museum

Drawing in Bargello museum in Florence.  Do you think I force the kid to do this?  Wasn't a 5 -year-old supposed to be jummping around the museum and trying to touch everything in sight?  I cannot speak for other people's parenting, but for us, art is in every day life and it is in Noel's blood, you should see the pride and joy in her eyes when she showed me her works.  I used to attracted tourists in the museums, surrounding, glancing over my shoulders like I am a living sculpture, well, it's Noel's turn now. 

Now, aren't these great!!!

The young diver of Paestum

And whatever we do, let's never forget about - kitty cats!!!!

I will make my own craft!

This little preschooler is always busy, she has "schedules" just like a grown-up!

But we are not talking about the schedule that she gets up at 7 am, brush teeth and is ready for bed at 8pm, with a mom as an artist, quite a contrary, Noel's daily routine may be a shock to other parents.  No, we are talking about her activities here - violin, drawing, reading, math, religious study, playing house, online games and yeah, never too young to play - she is a facebook user too!  One of her activity books is a craft book, honestly, it's more of a project for her to do with a babysitter than me; but today (a horribly cold spring day) when she suggested that we should do some craft, I agreed.

But little did I know, it's not your usual kind of craft, Noel actually "made" her own craft book... take a look, and read her writing...

"HOW TO MAKE A WAVING KID?"

"PULL HER ARM AND SHE WILL WAVE AT THE SUN"

Noel is just to creative for her age, this "craft book" makes me laugh every time I see it, even as I am writing this blog! 

 

And of course the craft project did not happen, because I am not as creative as my daughter, the thought of making this "proposed project" happen is beyond me!

travel sketchbook

In my student days, I used to travel around Europe in the summer; at the end of the trip, I come home, not with bags of souvenir, but stacks of drawings.  Now with Noel, traveling around and sketch sounds like a luxury, but on this last trip to Seattle, I still have to come home with a stack of drawings.  Guilty though, not a single one by me.

 

These are about half of what Noel did while we were on the trip, she can sit down, draw, write, and come up with story books for an hour straight. 

 

I have hard time throwing away my own drawings, and now, I am left with a big stack of drawings....everyday, on the trip or not.

 

and when she draws on loose pages, they get scatter around, I am sure the sequence of these drawings are way off, but hey, what's a mother to do....especially when I don't have the heart to throw the very nice ones away.

 

I need to hunt down a gallery that sells talented kid's artwork.  Noel is so productive, I may be the next million dollars mom!

unconditional love

By nature, Noel really is a very sweet child, I have not, so far, witnessed the fierce temper such as mine (sometimes,)  although I have seen plenty of stubbornness that is no doubt, coming from her mama.

Perhaps it's the age thing, when I am not getting enough sleep, my temper fares up, and I become pretty...hmmm, unreasonable, this weekend was eventful, from the lack of sleep, to the drop of the temperature, the breaking down of the sump pump in the basement...... I am telling you, I even called Starbucks and complained their employee. 

During moments like this, my sweet daughter is always on my side, she might drop a few tears when mama got mad at her (well, sometimes it's necessary because someone misbehaves!)  but for the most part, she is the one brings me that unconditional love : "mama, you are not mad at me, you are just tired, right?"

And the next thing you know, she "brews" me a cup of coffee or tea to cheer me up :)

My real cup of coffee might be the one that wakes me up; but this tiny cup is the one that warms my heart, and it's always filled with lots of love from Noel.

 

Noel : " mama, here is a drawing of me being bad at first, but after I apologized, you are happy!  and I love it when you are happy."

"and.....

...this is me bringing you a cup of tea!"

She did not mention anything about the writing on her shirt, but I know..."

I have lots to learn from my little girl.

I made a big drawing today!

Noel made a big drawing today, 18" x 24"  yeah!  She is very proud of her masterpiece!

A GIANT tree where a squirrel and birds make a nice home of !  I thought those branches were lovely.  And let's not forget Noel's sweet little girlfriend Grace, they are having a great time running around..and mama(sorry, the word was cropped by a bad photographer!) is chasing them :)

How cute!

even i am impressed....

When your mother is a professional artist, trying to impress her with artwork is not easy.  Noel has successfully done so many times.

Noel: "mama, you want to come see what I make?  A man wears a birthday hat eating an ice cream cone?"

I was busy surfing the web (guilty) and gave her the "okay okay, good job, I will check it out in a minute!"

She ran away, did not really show any sign of disappointment, went on to other games.

Minutes later, I searched all over the place for that "drawing."  Not in the studio, not in her room, not on the drawing board...until I finally see "it" on the living room coffee table.......

artist daughter

I have been thinking about the idea of bringing Noel to studio with me for a long time....

Noel is a frequent "visitor" in the studio, she goes there to play playdohs, draw and paint as many of you have seen it here.  But we two have never work along side together there.  I don't think Noel would mind the idea; it's me, I have not have a studiomate for over 10 years, and now, having one who is just 4.  Hmmmm.

We tried it out today, and it worked beautifully for almost 4 hours.  In the end, I was getting tired of my painting and was the one trying to rush Noel out.  "I am still drawing mama....."  she replied.

Looking at her cute face and drawing, I cannot help but thinking... most kids at this age, they get a Fisher Price easel, and Noel, she's got a julian french easel as her first easel, how lucky!

unscramble this.....

Can you believe I cannot figure it out when Noel first showed me... but now that I know, it's impossible to NOT know what it is....
As for this drawing, I just thought the little girl who turns the head around is so animated, nicely done!

imagination overtime

4 years old, in my opinion, defines the biggest change for far for Noel.  Over night, she becomes a "real person!"  She understands well, communicates well and there are many "tricks" I can no longer fool her.  Noel's drawings, in ideas, compositions and narratives...etc, everything has gotten so intricate and I am having hard time keep track of what she is doing.  There was just that big cat in the center of the paper, in the past, that would be it, and few minutes later, she had add on so many more.

Now, is this little girl's imagination working overtime or what?

sweetest birthday note

....makes aging a bit less painful!!!