This is not a scene from today, I do this volunteer activity at the primary school and I foolishly agreed to write a little illustrated report about that and I want to use drawings rather than photos.
Today was the last day of term for the school and they asked me to come along to their little ceremony and say a couple of words along with some other guests. They also told me that the report is due on Jan. 10th rather than the end of the month as I had thought, so this evening I needed to get cracking on planning some pictures.
The first activity we do is making promise rings, little bracelets woven with knots. It is amazing how hard the kids find it at first to use their fingers for all the little knotting jobs as well as gripping five strings threaded through their fingers. Gradually during the session they get up to speed and some become very nimble. It is important which way you loop the knot, so I get them to drape the thread loosely on one side holding the thread neatly between thumb and forefinger so that the direction goes right. We have been doing this for a few years now and most kids get about half done in the session but can remember how to straight bands at least. One girl managed to get on to doing chevrons and crosses a couple of years back, but she was one of the rare specimens of humanity that can empathize and quickly learn a task by watching others do it, a skill that is almost essential but dissapearing all too quickly. It is a nice quiet pastime for us all to get to know each other a bit sitting around a big table.
Pastels on cartridge 25x35cm