Winter holidays are times for family and this project is something which celebrates family and is fun to make as a family. To add an little art history piece to this we viewed some age appropriate work by the artist Marisol. Using scraps of thin wood and mat board, children can create mixed media works which are raised relief in a simple manner. Children love working with wood and this brought on a big discussion of sculpture, carving and the importance of trees.
Here are some of my younger students working through the process like this:

First the heads were drawn on the wood with thin marker. One head for each family member and other significant beings: (pets were big and grandparents)

The back ground and bodies of the families were fashioned by personal choice and outlined with marker.

Finally the color was added with oil pastels and the heads secured with white glue.

Here is one of the family portraits.

The Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume Three: Color Knitting: The Ultimate Stitch Dictionary from the Editors of Vogue Knitting Magazine (Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Series)
by Vogue Knitting Magazine
Volume three color knitting

What an incredible compendium of stitches. This is the third book in the series the first two cover knit and purl and cables. See here for
Volume one and volume two.

First thing to notice with these books is that they are heavy and unwieldy, not suitable for lugging around with you and your knitting in the bus. Definitely good for keeping at home next to your favourite knitting chair, slotted in there amongst your all time favourite knitting guides and pattern books. The next thing to notice is that this is a colourful book, some of the colours used to illustrate the pattern stitches are a little bright, some of the combinations could possibly do damage to your sensibility, but as the title suggests this is a book about colour knitting, so colour is sort of essential. The third thing to notice is that this book is not for the feint hearted. Beware there are a lot of stitch designs in this book, it could take a while to work your way through them all.

This compendium of stitches is well organised into sections and within each section sorted from easiest to difficult. The first section is two-colour design, then multi-colour or fair isle, intarsia or motifs, texture, and last is slip stitch. Most of the designs/stitches have a stitch chart and directions, they all have a finished knitted swatch and there are a couple that have been knitted into whole garments.

If you are into knitting with colour then this is an invaluable resource for you.

Red swirl writes in with a couple of links:

Hello Whipup team!
Recently I found two things I thought Whipup readers would like:
a tutorial on making a simple book or journal:
and Corina Rietveld’s beautiful rings: (see image)

Amy writes in with some info on an exhibition celebrating knitting:

I love reading whipup and I thought other readers might be interested in an exhibition happening in Madison, WI about the influence of Elizabeth Zimmermann on the knitting world. It’s at the UW’s School of Human Ecology Design Gallery until December 17. Check out the Gallery website and Virtual Gallery.

This past weekend, I wanted to try out one of the printmaking techniques from a recent book I reviewed here. So my daughter and I gathered our collage materials and paints and paper and got stuck into making a couple of collages. We then gently painted over the finished collage and pressed another piece of paper over the top. We like the girl’s face best, and agreed that the car probably needed a bit more thought.

Another activity which we really both enjoy is finishing faces. Basically this activity involves a couple of pens and some scrap paper, we half draw a face for the other person to finish. This is lots of fun and ends up with some great creative results.

If anyone has been following the news in Australia or indeed living here, you will know that we are in the middle of a dire drought and bush fire season has begun. The heat is unbearable, the smoke and hot wind and ash awful as well. … Be well those in the middle of it all.