Vacation: Painting

Blue is a vacation color. Water, calm, the sea, just what one is supposed to experience on vacation. This little watercolor is a work in progress. I want to do something different, out of my element. It's time to get out of my comfort zone. Let's see what I do next.

Research: Vacation

If I could go anywhere for vacation right now, I would like to revisit the tiny island of Torcello. A short ferry ride from Venice, Italy, it's a magical place with gorgeous cypress trees, a small church, small ruins, and beautiful views of the water and other nearby islands. The quiet atmosphere only adds to it's beauty. It just might be my favorite Venetian island.

Vacation

With Summer nearing a close I'm feeling nostalgic for past vacations. Though my family is unable to take a vacation now (Kindergarten starts Tuesday for Gio!), I'm thinking about where I would want to go if I could. They say planning a vacation can be just as restorative as going, so I'm going to do just that. 

Project: Gyotaku: Fish Printing

Beaches equal the sea and the sea equals fish. Gyotaku is the traditional art of fish printing. The method was originally used by Japanese fisherman to record their catch. It's also a great project to do with kids. Gio and Eamon love it and often ask to do it. 

Project: Foam Printed Seashells

Foam plate printing is so fun and super easy. It's a great printing project to do with small children. We've used this technique for many things including thank you cards and gift tags making them much more personal. The beauty of this type of project is that any drawing looks great when it's printed. 

Prints: Sea Creatures: The Beach

Seahorse, foam print, copyright Nina Leung, 2014

I love doing these little foam prints. They're so simple and easy to do. I'll have to do a tutorial sometime and have my kids do it as they always turn out looking great. Sea creatures make such a great subject since they can be shaped or designed in so many different ways. Maybe it's their simplicity that makes the design so much fun and easy to adapt.

Octopus,  foam print, copyright Nina Leung, 2014

Cute Little Octopus,  foam print, copyright Nina Leung, 2014

Links: The Beach

Eamon and Gio on a typical day at Muir Beach. Cold!

How to bring the beach to your home.

To drink at a beach party.

A dreamy beach holiday.

My favorite beach movie.

Great beach-y read.

Sit outside and enjoy flipping through this and then this.

Perfect to take along to the beach.

Wear this to the beach, but in the San Francisco Bay Area it would more likely be this.