Time for stealth. Nicco and I have embarked on a secret project. Manfredi’s birthday is coming up in a month and we are making a little memory booklet for him.

We began it yesterday. I cut the base pages, folded them and glued them into a booklet, while Nicco made a wax crayon and a pencil drawing. The idea now is to paint each base page, then add the collages, photographs, drawings, perhaps even poetry. Whatever takes our fancy, really.

The biggest challenge for me is to keep it suitably masculine in both imagery and colours. I realised just how much I use pretty ‘girly’ flowers and butterflies when I worked on a patterned paper for the book today and found myself somewhat short of collage elements.

The first steps of the booklet: Nicco’s drawing and mypatterned paper

I ended up using mostly old letters, stamps and newspaper cuttings, and I am not sure I like the end result. Still, it is a beginning, and I have a full month ahead of me to perfect it. This is going to be both stretching and fun. Let’s just hope Manfredi likes it!

I have long been tempted by the idea of homeschooling. My only restraint is that I know I’d spend hours on literature, art and crafts, and about half a minute on math and science. So I do what my husband calls “homeschooling after schooling.” It is nothing of the sort, of course—it’s just a set of loosely themed activities to stimulate Niccolo while we play together.

Watercolour background paper for my Leonardo project

Now, spurred by his newfound passion for Laurence Anholt’s Leonardo and the Flying Boy, I have started introducing him to the Italian Renaissance. On a weekend trip to Milan, we went to the local Science Museum, which has a model gallery showcasing Leonardo’s inventions—we are going to try and make his hydrometer at home with a straw and some nails.

But, more importantly, we have begun looking at Leonardo’s art—Mona Lisa, The Lady with the Ermine. And this prompted me to create a zine for Niccolo, a sort of visually rich minibook full of stories from the Renaissance days, paintings by Leonardo, historical characters…

Just now, I am playing with the colour palette, and those vermilions, golds and ochres are making my mouth water. I hope to put together a fanciful feast with folds, pull-outs and enough rich colours to keep him intrigued. And I fully intend to have plenty of fun while making the zine, of course!