Cuttlefish / Sipa

Papa V is a passionate diver, snorkler and sea-lover! Besides having fresh and healthy lunch directly from the sea (almost) every day, he often brings home some other interesting treasures, such as stones, sea shells, sand from the bottom of the sea, etc.

This time he brought something special! This is a cuttlefish bone from a cuttlefish that he brought, and it's ink - sepia - that V used for drawing. We were so happy to be abble to show V this fenomenon, and talk about it: the cuttlefish ejects it's ink from an ink sack in order to protect itself from the enemy when attacked. Then we remembered other ways that animals protect themselves when in danger: the chameleon changes color, the hedgehog has spines, a skunk sprinkles a liquid with a strong, foul odor, etc. Nature is so so exciting!

Tata V je strasni ronilac, podvodni ribolovac i obožavalac mora! Pored toga, što skoro svaki dan imamo svež ručak direktno iz mora, on često izroni i donese i druge zanimljivosti kao što su školjke, zanimljivo kamenje, pesak sa dna mora, itd.

Ovog puta je doneo nešto posebno! Ovo je sipina kost od sipe i njeno mastilo - sepia - koje je V upotrebio za crtanje. Bili smo toliko srećni što nam se pružila prilika da pričamo sa V-om o ovom fenomenu - sipa ispušta svoje tamno mastilo da bi se zaštitila od neprijatelja, stvarajući tako  u vodi taman "oblak" koji je u potpunosti sakriva i štiti. Onda smo se prisetili i drugih životinja koje V zna a koje se na zanimljiv način štite od opasnosti: kameleon menja boju stapajući se sa svojom okolinom, to isto radi i hobotnica, jež ima bodlje, tvor ispušta neprijatan smrad, itd. 

This ink - sepia - can be used for cooking as well, but we used it for drawing and painting, which reminded me of some other animals that provide pigments for drawing and painting such as the indian yellow pigment manufactured from the urine of cattle in India fed only on mango leaves and water, or the carmine red pigment derived from the secretion of female scale insects that feed on the twigs of various trees native to India. And the rest of the cuttelfish - we fried in olive oil and garlic, and had some yummy lunch! So many things one can learn from a cuttlefish!

Ovo mastilo - poznato još i pod imenom sepia, može da se koristi za kuvanje (npr. crnog rižota), ali i za crtanje i slikanje, što me je podsetilo da se u prirodi boje i pigmenti nalaze na najzanimljivijim i čudnim mestima i da postoje još neke životinje od kojih se oni mogu dobiti: npr. pigment indijske žute se dobijao iz mokraće jedne vrste indijskih krava koje se hrane lišćem manga, a pigment karmin crvene od sitnih insekata coccus cacti koji se stružu sa grana jedne vrste smokve. Priroda je veoma uzbudljiva! 

Mi smo sepiu ovog puta iskoristili za crtanje, a ostatak sipe smo ispržili na belom luku i maslinovom ulju i u slast pojeli! 

Stone / Kamen

What I love most about the beach is that it provides so much opportunity for real open-ended art: no rules, no limitations, just pure freedom and imagination, and beautiful nature materials, that always, (always!) result in beautiful structures! Very simmilar to fairy houses we built in the forest! Anyone can do it, and I think - everybody enjoys it. Even adults. And the reason why - is that we usually don't think about this activity as an art activity, but rather as play. And even though that should be the case with art as well, we are not always as free in it as we are in play. This is maybe the reason why adults participate so nicely with kids in playing at the beach, not telling them what to do or how to do it, but rather following the kids in their own ideas. And it would be really wonderful if this would be the case with all the art that kids do in participation with adults, not only at the beach but elswhere as well!

Ono zbog čega volim plažu to je što pruža toliko mogućnosti za likovne aktivnosti otvorenog tipa: nema pravila, nema ograničenja, samo čista sloboda i mašta, i prelepi prirodni materijali, koji uvek, (zaista uvek!) rezultiraju u prelepim strukturama! Veoma slično kućicama za bebe vile koje smo pravili u šumi! Svako može da se igra, i ja mislim - svako voli. Čak i odrasli. A razlog zašto je to tako je, čini mi se, taj što odrasli obično ne razmišlju o ovoj aktivnosti kao o umetničkoj aktivnosti, već upravo - kao o igri. I iako bi to trebalo da bude slučaj uopšte sa umetnošću, mi nismo uvek onoliko slobodni u njoj, kao što smo u igri. To je možda razlog zašto odrasli tako lepo učestvuju sa decom u igranju na plaži, ne govoreći šta da rade niti kako, već prate decu u njihovim sopstvenim idejama. I bilo bi zaista divno ako bi to bio slučaj sa likovnim aktivnostima koje deca rade uz učešće odraslih, ne samo na plaži već bilo gde!

At The Seaside / Na moru

We love spending spring at the seaside. The nature is so beautiful here in this part of the year. And the time spent at the empty beach (with only a few people!) seems like paradise! 

Volimo da provodimo proleće na moru! Priroda je ovde toliko lepa u ovo doba godine, a vreme provedeno na (praznoj!) plaži deluje kao pravi raj!