Twig

• As a visual artist and educator, I know how important it is to encourage your child to think and behave like an artist.
• But this is not necessarily about drawing or painting in a particular way.
• The habits of an artist include the ability to generate ideas, trust in creative processes, be comfortable with ambiguity, take risks and embrace failure.

How to think and behave like an artist

• You can encourage children to develop the habits of an artist by providing opportunities for them to take creative risks and use problem finding skills.
• Problem finding skills are identifying unforeseen problems using critical and analytic thinking.
• Here are three art activities to try in the holidays – or any time – to build these skills.

1. Blind contour drawing

• In blind contour drawing you don’t look at the paper while you draw and once your drawing implement touches the paper, you don’t lift it off until you are done.
• Look closely at your subject and slowly draw what you see, looking for lines and contours to draw in and around them.
• This is a gentle way of extending creative potential of drawing.

2. Make your own brushes

• Another similar activity is making brushes or “mark-making tools” as I like to call them.
• You can use a range of materials from outside or even the recycling bin: a few sticks, masking tape and some string.
• Tie a bunch of twigs and leaves or feathers together and bind them to the top of a stick.
• This helps children to become comfortable with that idea of testing, experimenting and creating your way through an issue.

3. Change your medium and your size

• Willow charcoal – made from burnt willow branches – is an excellent medium for experimenting with and enables children to “draw big”.
• Children can use the tip of it to draw lines, or use the side of the stick to create wide shapes and shades.
• Get some large pieces of paper and encourage your child to draw as big as they can to create huge gestural drawings with the charcoal.
• This encourages kids to move out of their comfort zone (and beyond A4 paper).

• Building on the success of our green tea product line, the launch of the new Numi Organic Roasted Japanese Green Tea Line offers our customers the opportunity to experience new flavor variations as well as the health benefits of green tea, said Ahmed Rahim, Chief Visionary Officer and Co-Founder of Numi Organic Tea.
• The four Numi Roasted Japanese product line SKUs in include:
  *NEW* Numi Organic Hojicha Roasted Japanese Green Tea : The Hojicha Roasted Japanese Green Tea originates from Shizuoka, Japan, where the leaves are grown, harvested, and then steamed before being rolled into a bancha.
• *NEW* Numi Organic Kukicha Roasted Japanese Green Tea : The Kukicha Roasted Japanese Tea originates from Shizuoka, Japan, where the tea leaves are steamed to sencha with the stems, twigs, and stalks sorted, blended, and then roasted at a medium temperature.
• *NEW* Numi Organic Yuzu Bancha Roasted Japanese Green Tea : The Yuzu Bancha Roasted Tea originates from Shizuoka, with the organic yuzu originating from Miyazaki and Kyushu in Japan.

• Plesh of The Southern Review of Books saying, "The most gratifying thing about Rudy Ruiz's latest novel, Valley of Shadows, is the story itself, and Ruiz keeps the reader turning pages until the very end.
• Ruiz skillfully blends genres, adding elements of Westerns, crime stories, magical realism, and horror to create a world in which anything is possible."
• Ruiz deftly combines elements of romance, historical mystery, horror and magical realism to deliver a richly satisfying adventure."
• Valley of Shadows is available for order on Amazon , as well as BookPeople , the official bookstore of the Texas Book Festival, and The Twig , and bookstores nationwide.

• Joining them on stage was SVORA a mysterious incognito electronic music artist, who made his debut performance earlier this year at SXSW.
• The discussion was centered around the most prominent trends disrupting the music industry: advances in AI and VR and the emergence of new concepts like virtual artists and generative music.
• Arca teased her vision of her future metaverse performances and potential collaboration with AI.
• Arca is the pseudonym of shapeshifting Venezuelan artist, singer, DJ, performer, and experimental music composer Alejandra Ghersi, one of the most relevant electronic figures of our time.