Small Wild Things

Well, hasn't this second lockdown been the toughest thing!

My partner and I suddenly found ourselves at home with three under-five years old and not an inch of support! While we fully embrace looking after our children, the hardest thing has been to explain how they wouldn't be able to see their grandparents for Christmas after all, and then their friends, teachers, their school and nursery settings... such an important part of their life!

They are tough resilient little things, and they have each other. We have been very lucky.

However, time to work in the studio (for me as well as my partner who makes beautiful hand-crafted surfboards) became a thing of the past. A thing to whisper about but not mention aloud.

Patience and emotions have been stretch but we made it through those dark months and we learned a lot. It has been a pleasure to have all the kids home and see them deepen their relationship with each other, and to learn together and discover new stories.

While we haven't been able to make, it has offered us an opportunity to just stop and do something else. Something that we all enjoyed studying has been Evolution, we found some beautifully illustrated books about Darwin, his life, his theory. We drew lots of insects and funny animals, some real, some less.

From that I started making little waxed cotton insects to amuse them. The waxed fabric perfect to create insect shells and wings. Then a few dolls were made, some for them and some I had to hide in my studio!

Here are a few photos of them. I hope you enjoy them as much as we have and I would love to hear about your sliver-lining in the dark clouds of lockdown.

Love to you all,

Alison.

More about Small Wild Things Here.