Rebus Galore!

Since we have had some frosty days for the past couple of weeks, I've spent my time indoors staying warm and preparing my Dive In cards for the upcoming season. I'm happy to say that I just finished adding all-new rebus puzzles for the Schoolhouse! 

A rebus uses symbols, pictures, letters, or even numbers to look like a word.  These puzzles were popular activities in schoolhouse books during the 1800s because children enjoyed solving them and teachers thought they were a good exercise for the brain.  What kind of games does your teacher hand out at school?

One of my favorite rebus puzzles is this one from the late 1800s (click on the image if you would like to see it in more detail):

Can you see how the letters and pictures spell out "May I see you home my dear?"  I solve a rebus by sounding out each letter and image over and over until the answer starts to appear.     

Inspired by a little message brought by a certain groundhog, here is a rebus I came up with on my own.  Read the puzzle as you would read a sentence and see if you can sound it out:

 ---------    --------     ------        -------------------------------------     ----------



(Hint:  Do you know what a female sheep and chicken are called?  Ask a family member or a friend to help you if you're feeling stuck.)

Think you have the right answer?  Post your rebus answer in the comments section, or write me your answer at webby@shelburnemuseum.org.  I will post the answer at the end of this week!          

Good Luck!

It's a Start

Do you ever get a creative "itch"--the sudden urge to draw, paint, sculpt or collage? This happens to me all the time, but it can be tough to know how to start. It makes me wonder where great artists like Edouard Manet found inspiration...

Edouard Manet, Blue Venice, 1875

Manet began Blue Venice while staying in the Italian city of Venice. He made sketches of gondolas, the special kind of boat pictured, floating on the Grand Canal. He finished the painting after returning to his studio in Paris.

Like Manet, I decided to make a picture step-by-step, starting with few key pieces. Here's what you'll need to do the project:

• A magazine with pictures you like
• Scissors
• Glue
• Paper
• Colored pencils, markers, or crayons

I started by cutting out a few favorite pictures from a magazine. 

 

Remember to cut close to the edges!

 Then I glued them onto a sheet of paper.

Leave lots of space around your pictures.

Then, using markers, crayons, or colored pencils, draw around the pictures you've chosen. Try to fill up the whole page. Starting with a sun, purple t-shirt, red teapot, and burger, I made a colored pencil drawing of my friend Angela sitting at a sidewalk cafe. Yum!

Ready for spring...

"A job begun is half done." Try this project and you won't get stuck at the beginning!

A Gift for Webby

Guess what gift I received today?



Eery Close Up Shot?

Dirt?

A Little Boy to Perch Upon?




Nah, none of these things (but if you click on the captions you can see the Webby Posts where these pictures are featured). 

I received my very own email address!  That's right, now you can email me your thoughts, questions, answers, ideas, stories, memories, pictures, artwork, riddles, and puzzles to this new and easy to remember address:

webby@shelburnemuseum.org 

I check my email everyday: you can expect me to either send you a reply or share your content on my blog for other readers to see. 

How about I leave you a question to answer?  Send me your answers to my new email address for a chance to appear on my blog!

If you could have any piece of Shelburne Museum's collection as a gift, what would it be?

I'll give you my answer in the next update.  Let me know what you think!