My Little Artist

Notice on her All About Me poster, her outfit matches the one she is wearing.

Josie is an artist.

I realize that doesn't necessarily mean she will grow up to be an artist by trade.  In fact, she has told me emphatically, "When I grow up, I want to be a scientist, and I'm not changing my mind!"

Whether it's bugs or berries, Josie likes to study it.  The picture on the left shows her watching her ant named Elevator.

I think the exclamation mark that definitely accompanied that statement was used in response to how many times people have told her she could be an artist someday.

I don't know, or care, if she will grow up and make a career out of her talent.  (Maybe she'll be a stay at home mom who illustrates books...maybe one of those books will be written by me...)  I'm not the sort of mom that imagines my child's whole life out before they start kindergarten.  (...Won't we have fun when Disney makes the book into a movie, and we get to spend time together in California?...)  Those types of parents shouldn't let their imaginations run wild.  They need to let their kids live their own lives.  (...I'll watch the twins, Tracy and Stacy, while she helps the Disney artists capture the feel of the characters.)  Seriously though, I hope she knows that I don't care what she does as long as she's happy.

Art makes her happy.  I think even if she becomes a scientist, she won't desert her art completely.  Once when she was four she came to me practically in tears.  When I asked her what was wrong she cried, "I haven't painted anything today!"

This was one of those small moments when you learn a lot about your child.  I saw in her eyes that not only does she love to paint, she feels she needs to paint.

October 2009

September 2010

It's not only painting.  She also loves to draw, color, sculpt and, simply, create.

April 2009

July 2011--I was cleaning out the garage when I noticed Josie had brought her drawing outside.  She was drawing the tree across the street.

September 2011

The way she puts colors together has fascinated me for years.  One calm afternoon while the boys were at school, we lay on the floor coloring side by side.  I was planning a beautiful monochromatic My Little Pony in which I would use all the different purples in our 64-count crayon box.  I was combining darks and lights and telling her the names of all the purples because, of course, she can see that they are all different and must know what they are called.  I was enjoying the unusual quiet when Josie leaned over and said, "Mom, aren't you going to put more color in your picture?  Here try some yellow with that."  She was right.  One strand of pony hair colored yellow made all the purples pop.

 

We recently invited family members over for her first Art Show.  We covered the walls of our home with some of her masterpieces and Josie got to discuss her art.  We ate BBQ and talked about the pictures of family, flowers, and animals covering the walls.  She gave a small art talk/tour which ended at the wall by the bathroom.

Her most popular works were her abstracts.  Like I said, that girl knows how to put colors together.

My favorite story happened last year when she returned to preschool after recovering from her broken leg.  It seems, in her absence, the boys and girls had paired off into preschool versions of girlfriends and boyfriends.  (To protect the innocent I have refrained from using full names.)  She came home from school one day and said, "D--- and J--- are together.  A---- and DJ---- are together.  They want me to go with B---, but, Mom, I just can't be with someone who scribbles!"

I'm glad my girl has standards.

I'm glad that she has found something she loves so much.

I'm glad that even though she doesn't look like this anymore...

January 2008

 She is still my little artist.