Summer is a haven of slow enjoyment. The air is hot and heavy here, and it pulls our busy lives to a slower pace, like a gentle tug of the shirt. Languid afternoons, the summer sun presses and the chirping bugs lull. Children find mischief and explore, and you begin to feel more like a child yourself as the summer nights lengthen and fireflies glow.

Moments become picturesque.

One Sunday afternoon my children were overjoyed to join the youth for a “chalk war” at church. My little son covered in a tie dye of colors, his small hands scooping up the colorful powder, the ground a wash of rainbows…

A moment to capture in art.

Chalk War, 9×12 pastel on homemade paper

For a little background on the paper, earlier in the summer one of our not-so-fun activities was cleaning out the art room. My budding artists use A LOT of paper. In the spirit of creative responsibility, we decided to make new paper out of our old paper. We tore it, soaked it, smushed it, diluted it, screened it, squeezed it, dried it and voila! Paper.