Art to combat the winter blues

Winter is in full swing;
we are mostly inside with sweaters and hot drinks.
Frozen and white views fill eyes;
our spirits dampen, and there is no bright side.
Rooms lit with artificial lights;
ears hear frequent sneezes that are no delight.
Rooftops covered in snow;
noses filled and blocked with white dough.
The trees in the streets are barren;
on white roads, snow is heavily laden.
The sky has snow and is quite;
the wind howls and moves snow to cover every sight.
There is nowhere to roam or go;
the weather is so cold that it freezes our toes.
Winter is here;
we find ways to engage us and our kin to find cheer.

It is the season after December and New Year festivities. The weekend is mostly covered in the snow shower. With nowhere else to go, the mind wanders to entertain and do fun, creative stuff apart from games and the regular dose of studies.
A creative idea stuck when eyes fell upon the broken “Martial art” wooden slabs in the corner. “Martial art” is a form of physical activity with the artistic movement of the body. The wood is usually used for breaking, to test the physical power while an individual performs a martial activity. Often, these slabs make an excellent heating aid as it accompanies the main log in the fireplace. But this time, the mind did not accept throwing these inexpensive but beautifully square-cut logs in the fire. Why not take the broken pieces of wood to create a work of art and reuse it as a canvas to improve the imagination? Sounded like a great idea to combat the winter blues and have few hours of fun while engaging the young mind with creativity.
Research says that fine art boosts imagination and creates a healthy mind. Whatever the outcome, nothing beats the few hours of engaging fun craft, with little or no knowledge of art to brightens the dampened spirits and have few laughs.
No special materials are required apart from glue, some sketch markers, paint and of-course some interest in art and creativity. The sample images and materials needed to create are described below.
 
1. Materials used in this art form are a square cut wooden
  slab, cotton balls, and markers.

2. Materials used in this art form are a square cut wooden slab, sketch markers, cotton balls, Liquid glue and some colored sparklers or paint. 

3. Materials used in this art form are square cut wooden slab and paint.

Birthdays of loved ones are always an occasion to remember. This especially holds true for our own kid’s birthday party. Each passing year is a reminder for parents of a beautiful day in the past. It is a reminder of the joyous day, as a parent, we welcome our bundle of joy into this wonderful world. Each birthday celebration is a triumph celebration in raising a child with positive enthusiasm and good hope. It is a good practice to buy or make gifts that also reciprocate the same feeling.
Some gifts last for a year and some leave impressions that last longer, maybe a lifetime. Why not make an impression and pass on the positive enthusiasm by creating small yet useful gifts in addition to a fancy one from the store?
There are loads of videos and ideas on YouTube to create and DIY (Do it yourself) gifts from used and household materials. One such idea that I created taking inspiration from loads of innovative videos is DIY night-lights. These are beautiful night lamps that can be made from any household used and cleaned bottles and jars. 
Materials used to make this night light are a clean bottle, oil paints and one or two brushes, glitter, some fairy or any other cutouts with the black foreground color, a small flickering battery operated lamp and some liquid glue. 
1.  Take a clean bottle and paint the outside of the bottle with a brush. The design and different colors need to fill the bottle.
2.  Now take some cutouts and glue them on the inside, covering all four sides of the bottle. 
3.  Take some liquid glue and apply it near the mouth of the bottle on all sides. Now generously put glitter on the glued area and gently pat for the excess glitter to fall inside the bottle.
4.  Now take some pebbles or rock and fill one-fourth of the bottle. 
5.  Take a small flickering battery operated candle (Do not use the real candle) and put it inside the bottle.
6.  If needed, cover the lid with a decorative coloured ribbon.

These lamps can be used as night-lights or as a centrepiece in a table.​