Classrooms aren't the only place to learn by L. Pearson

The secret to staying young is to stay curious. And there are so many ways to keep that fire alive in your kids. Here is an article by Laura Pearson about finding new pathways to educating kids in the world. Laura Pearson is passionate about teaching the younger generation. Edutude was built to share resources on how to keep children engaged and in love with learning. 

The pandemic revealed the importance of being able to master learning remotely. With that in mind, the following ideas can excite, engage, and instill a love of learning in children of all ages. 

 In the Backyard The best classroom in the world doesn’t have a single wall, and you have access to it right now. Plan to allow your children to spend some time learning under the sun. This might include anything from growing your own garden to collecting rocks and minerals that are unique to your area. From your own backyard, your children will also be able to bear witness to wildlife -- just be sure they know how to do so safely. Backyard birdwatching, an activity condoned by the Audubon Society, is one fun way to do this. A pair of binoculars, a camera, and a notebook are all the kids need to get started with backyard birding. Another example of outdoor activity that doubles as an educational opportunity is gardening. Gardening offers a unique opportunity to witness plant life grow from seedling to sustainable food source or habitat for your local bee population. Additionally, gardening teaches life skills such as responsibility, creativity, and self-confidence.

Hands-on Activities Even the youngest member of your family can get in on the learning, and educational toys that teach problem-solving, communication, and executive functioning skills are an excellent way to educate babies and toddlers. Educational toys do not have to be expensive, and even something as simple as blocks or a toy phone can enhance your children’s ability to learn without having to sit at a desk to do so. Teens can also learn fundamental skills without a textbook. Science can be taught in the kitchen, and social responsibility is something that older kids can easily learn by getting out of the house and volunteering. You can also teach budgeting, and many banks offer special accounts just for pre-driving-aged students. These and other activities geared toward early teenagers may even help them take their mind off of the turmoil that is middle school.

Educational Excursions If you’re not particularly creative, it may be a bit more difficult for you to think of educational activities for the kids. Fortunately, you do not have to, and there are plenty of places that cater to inquiring minds, all you have to do is get them there. Children’s museums that make a great day or overnight excursion, depending on where you live, include: ● Children’s Museum, Indianapolis ● Boston Children’s Museum, Boston ● The Strong, Rochester ● Port Discovery Children’s Museum, Baltimore A few excellent zoos that can also elevate your educational endeavors include: ● San Diego Zoo, San Diego ● Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Powell, Ohio ● Smithsonian National Zoo, Washington ● Bronx Zoo, New York What we all want for our children is for them to be excited about learning. This may or may not happen in the classroom, but you can bet that it will happen when they are engaged outside of it. From gardening to taking a museum tour, there are many ways to educate your children, and there’s no reason not to explore them all.

Valentine's day Crafting project with "Art Angels" in your own home

Are you looking for something fun and magical to do on Valentines day? 2pm on Sunday, February 14th join us on line for a little dreamy fun.

Art Angels, my dear friend Lisa Marie and I, will present a cozy crafting virtual Valentines event in the privacy of your own home. It is a perfect opportunity for both individuals or couples who would like to manifest the life they've been dreaming of. We will do this by collaging colors, words and images onto a 3D, made from recycled cardboard, bird house or "Love Shack" if you will.

February 14th is the traditional day birds look for their mates and start to prepare a nest. Our crafting session will begin with a short meditation embracing our intentions for our Love Shacks (love birds optional) You will be provided with a template to make a 3D "birdhouse/loveshack", or you can channel your inner architect and fashion one on your own. Then we will treat the surfaces as if they were a vision board! Using magazines, colored paper, pens or any coloring agent you have, we will decorate our "love shacks" with the intention of manifesting all our dreams. This is a powerful move and it really works!

So join us for the fun as we share tidbits and advice while you work! Spaces are limited but you are welcome to do it on your own or have a lover or friends in your own house. This will be fun. In addition, we can guide you with a recipe to make your own love bird sculptures with whatever you have in the kitchen.
Email your interest and Paypal donation to Tillystudio@aol.com, then we will send you the link to join us.

Supplies for everyone: Recycled  thin card board (cereal boxes: preferred)
Scissors, tape, Glue, Colored Tissue paper, Magazines, something to color with.
Dough love bird recipe (upon request)
Cost: $0 - $10.00 Donations accepted

Spring Arrived Anyway

(continuing the Daily Drawing During a Quarantine)

Predator Paranoia/ April 29

Spring arrived anyway...which seemed a little weird, as if it had not gotten the memo that the world had changed.
Our chicks arrived in the mail and we raised them first in the tub and then in a new coop we built at the edge of the yard. (click on link to see video of their arrival!)

Chicks in the Tub/ April 16

I feel like the May snow storm was especially cruel. On May 10th I drew an inventory of every article I wore on my body. It was a far cry from the last 9 years in Miami, broiling under the sun!

The weather tried to keep us indoors and I found moments of gloom taking over me.

Wistful/ May 6

The bed seemed the safest place to be, even though my heart was done with hibernating.

Bed day/ April 15

Moving While Staying Still

Looking Up/ March30

(continuing series of Covid19 journal daily drawings)

There are parts of the isolation that feel surreal and stressful, and then there are other parts that feel almost blissful in silences. We are getting to know our neighbors and have found gifts on the doorstep a couple of times. Reciprocating, I made large batches of ramp pesto to leave at the doorsteps, and of course, left bottles of dad's maple syrup.

Trip to Town/ April 20

Putting on a mask and grabbing a handful of gloves is "the new normal" before any endeavor. In fact on our morning walks, we keep a mask in the pocket just in case, though we rarely run into another human. All of our interaction with colleagues is through the computer.

My Peeps/ April 23

I love the daily walks, sometimes in the early morning mist, and others in the waning dusk of the day. The countryside is alive with critters. Without the usual distractions, I am able to pay attention. I almost have a relationship with the one-eared rabbit, the romancing wood ducks, the tousled teenage red tailed hawk, the near-exhausted-from-parenting house wrens and the scampering chipmunks in the stone walls.

Walking/ May 18

When night falls we have fallen prey to the offerings of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. Our roster of films and TV shows betrays a new obsessive interest in Scottish history. The doorway was through the TV series Outlander. The key was finding both Michael and I are descended from families who immigrated to the America's from Scotland. The fun is finding how far back we can go (1430!) and then watching historical films of the era.

TV Family Tree/ May 14

Making the Best of It

Practices/ April 21

(Continuing the Daily Drawing During Quarantine)

Michael and I grow stronger. We take daily walks, laugh and share more of ourselves with the other.

We dance, we sing karaoke, we bake, we read to each other. 

Performance/ March 17

Connecting/ April 19

My friend Leesah hosts one of the first online virtual performances for St Patty’s Day. We join Wassaic community in online Bingo. We swap gifts with neighbors and find offerings at our door.

Gifts/ April 10

And every meal we eat together. And we trust when it comes time for the quarantine haircut, we will be there for each other.

Every meal/ April 18

Haircut/ April 27

The Trixi Strauss Annual Christmas Bird Count

Trixi and my Grandpa, Bill Strauss

Since returning to the farm 6 months ago, I have become aware of slight memories and remnants of my grandparents in almost everything I do. Perhaps I am closer to their age, but for whatever reason, I think of them both a lot more than usual when walking around the farm, prepping food in the kitchen, or hanging with my dad. Their spirit infuses the land. One of my favorite sweaters to wear when I write is a green one knitted and worn by Trixi. It has a slip of paper in the pocket like she always had. So I was excited to do more this year with keeping the Trixi Strauss Audobon Annual Christmas Bird Count alive. It is organized by the Sharon Audobon Center, a few miles away.

I set up my post just inside the bedroom windows, looking towards the back yard, two full birdseed holders and a suet cage.

Then I watched the sun come up. The high winds must have kept the birds away... until the first little Slate grey Junco arrived. Then pairs of Tufted Titmice came. We had a finch, and a couple small cowbirds.

I think these are cowbirds.

One of three aggressive Blue Jays

I am an amateur armed with bird books, binoculars and paint. The overall abundance of birdseed visitors this morning have been the woodpeckers. I am so pleased. We have them in all sizes, from the Downy to the Red Headed, and even a noble Pileated was seen landing on the backyard trees.

#dailypainting #birdwatcher #woodpecker
And now- at 5pm, the feeders are abandoned as the light of day turns to the dark of night.

New Peacock painting Merchandise

I am so proud to offer up five of my most recent paintings inspired by the tropical nature of Miami. I just uploaded five new peacock paintings onto my Fine Art America site. That makes 63 paintings and drawings now available for any economic budget on almost a hundred products. You can get a print on canvas, metal, wood, framed paper, or as a greeting card, a mug, a phone case, a tote bag or a shower curtain, throw pillow, duvet cover, yoga mat, and more!!!
Check it out on FFA! Have fun!  I will travel north with memories of the south Florida tropics on my bath towels and greeting cards.

Ships within 2-3 business days! Let me know what you get.
All the best-
Tilly

Hunting Game

latest version of work in process

Detail of Peahen

Detail of Peacock

I am full of a flurry of inspiration with a need to capture the daily parade of peacocks that I have lived with for the last 8 years at school. Soon I will be moving away and I want to take a little something of this visual miracle with me. But it is harder to paint a peacock than I thought. Every attempt looks too illustrative and gawdy. This is my 4th revision.

how I start

 In the beginning I throw everything out on the paper...

 Then I go outside and watch them

I feel like a hunter!

I am feeling Artsy

Check out my work online on a new gallery venture called Flow-305. 
It's easy to see the work of my friends and check out individual pieces that represent the best I have to offer. Please look at it and if you can, forward it to a friend. I have some new paintings, all inspired by the joy of living in a tropical zone.

Birds of a Feather

All acrylic works on paper, 12 x 18 inches. Right now I am asking $400, but the price might have to go up.

Flamingo Pat Party

Also these are uploaded onto my Fine Art America account for printing onto Merchandise!

Outdoor Flamingo Party

RIP Uncle Pat

This past Friday my mother's brother, a favorite uncle of mine, died. He was in his beautiful home, peacefully attended to by his wife and sister-in-law.    ...We are all devastated.
It was sometime in mid December that his checkup came up strange- and with further screening it was revealed that cancer had invaded almost his entire body. He opted to not undergo any radical treatments and instead- went home the afternoon of his diagnosis- to change the bulbs and batteries in all the flashlights, smoke detectors, and hard to reach lights.

lined up flashlights ready to go

His concern was for his wife and, lucid to the very end, he taught her which bills to pay, filed the past year's income tax and assured her that their love was all that mattered. I tried to visit him each weekend, making the 2 hour drive across the Everglades each time. I found him only slightly diminished, always impeccably dressed, and a gentleman. He was stubbornly careful to avoid any discussion of his condition, and yet curious as to how we were doing. His smile, and sweet demeanor will always stay with me.

just weeks before he's gone

I was blessed to be a beneficiary of his hosting great meals at restaurants and yet I am still baffled by his simple tastes. Now I feel inspired to create a foodie pamphlet recalling those idiosyncrasies and sharing his down home menus and secret passions.

his 1/3 daily ration of favorite donut

If we all wonder how to lead a hedonistic 21st century globe-trotting life and still keep our figures- Uncle Pat could be the example. He was always about small portions and a pattern of intake. My mother swears he could still fit into the clothes of his youth well up into his 80's!
(more about this later)

here he is blending in with the other ascetics

Today I put together a painting of a bird, plunging to the sea, on plaster and burlap that tries to portray the beauty and flight of my lovely uncle.

When I feel sad, I have to create. It is how I get the bad feelings outside of me and how I can diminish their power over my psyche. I am sad my uncle is gone, but so glad, extremely glad, to have been a part of his life for however long I was granted. He showed me the stars and supported my wings.

On the Cover of JAVMA, at long last

At long last and in the nick of time! Ten years ago I stopped submitting work to my father's favorite veterinary journal. I had, for years, submitted paintings of my kids with the basset hound, a couple of cats and even chickens. So you cannot imagine my surprise when last fall the art director of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association contacted me about a painting I had submitted in 2008!
You see... it is almost never too late, and you never ever know what is going to happen if you put your work out there!

The sweetness of this issue is that my father, just 6 days ago, retired from his Veterinary practice of 43 years! His last day was in December and then "my cover" comes out in January... It is poetry.
Oh joy!

The painting- called Picky Pecky Hen, an encaustic on sewn paper , was sold years ago out of an exhibition at the Beacon Howland Cultural Center.

Yoga in the Park

One of my #100favFlorida things is the Sundays we spend in the park with friends meditating and doing our yoga practice. I have been going there for the past 7 years and have learned a lot from Peter, theyogawarrior.org 
To be among the trees is where I feel most comfortable in my skin. Miami is a city with a lot of trees- but not necessarily right outside your door. You have to be intentional about being with the trees. You have to search out sites that aren't under assault of construction. Miami is all about real estate and development so that, over the years, lots of my favorite trees in the neighborhood have been removed. When I practice the tree pose I gain inspiration from the energy of the park. I enjoy the rooted feeling of connecting to the earth and the lifted feeling from spreading my "branches" into the air overhead, visually merging my fingers with the leaves and birds.

I consider this to be my church time. While in the park, I meditate on non-violence, praying for compassion, focusing on my breath. I let go of my expectations and practice self-discipline, intention, concentrating on the gifts and movement of my healthy body. I also pay attention to the sounds of the animals, humans, and machines, feeling the breeze, sun, and grass against my skin... it always lifts my spirit and is the best way to start the day and week. It brings me light and gratitude for the love of God, the great Creator.

I had to do 3 paintings to get one that captures the love I have for Sunday Yoga in the Park.
#100favFloridathings

Morning routine

This summer in NY I have enjoyed waking to the sound of songbirds at about 5:30 a.m. It is such a joyous sound and a wonderful opportunity to start the day. Summer is my favorite season, so I try to squeeze as much out of it as possible. The early hours give me extra time to get my writing project done (my Bloodlines art history book), and that helps me feel more patient with others as the day and the distractions arise. In the evenings I don't make it much past 10 p.m., but there really isn't much of a nightlife in the country anyway! I learned this works from my disciplined sister Gwen.

my workstation on the sun porch

about 6:20 the sun rises over the marsh

sitting under a needle point mural drawn by my mother