On a knitted Narnia

What an amazing day I had! My bestie, Themis, organized an art class for me and herself as my birthday present, so today we drove down to Port Adelaide for our class. Now, I have never been to Port Adelaide before, but Themis and I were in for a treat. The whole area (but especially the street our art class was on) had been ‘yarn-bombed’ – that is, someone had decorated telegraph poles, trees, railings, park benches, even rubber ducks with knitting. I felt like I had popped into a knitted Narnia.

As we had arrived early, Themis and I grabbed a cup of tea at a nearby café – to our joy, each table was covered in brown paper and had a scattering of crayons for us to draw on the table.

Then it was time for our art class.

After we had brought out our inner Matisse and Degas, Themis and I stumbled upon this gigantic market, full of antiques and knick-knacks and secondhand books! We spent a good hour browsing through vintage jewellery, teapots, porcelain dolls and books! I bought a copy of Ursula K. LeGuin’s ‘A Wizard of Earthsea’, which is on the ‘1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up’ list and also, coincidentally, the author of the quote I posted last night. It was a wonderful day. I really like the paintings I made, although I realize that they are no masterpieces. I can’t help being in awe of people who not only master paintings or drawing, or writing, or acting, or any other creative pursuit, but also those who master more than one of these art forms! Like D. M. Cornish, who is the author of Foundling, the book I am currently reading – he has not only written, but illustrated the book. He has drawn maps, he has drawn the characters; he has really created a whole visual world for his readers. I also love people like Eric Carle, who writes wonderful stories like The Very Hungry Caterpiller, and illustrates them with amazing bright collages. I am by no means a master of my chosen artistic field, writing, but I would love if I could be good at painting. And drawing. And singing. And the trumpet. And many other things besides…

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Tags: art class, art. books, arts, D M Cornish, Eric Carle, illustration, knitting, literature, Narnia, painting, Port Adelaide, yarn bombing