Last time I talked about my wife creating a wonderful painting for our son’s room (and it really is wonderful). It was a painting of a guitar and our son really enjoyed it. He’s always been a fan of music. Both Mom and Dad have a love for the arts. We’ve both dabbled in each of them more than a little, and I’ve gone through lots of schooling in the arts (theatre in particular). We play guitar and piano and tin whistle while grandpa plays drums. The one thing our son hadn’t yet gotten into was painting. Mom made sure to make an adjustment when our son was interested in watching and “helping” her paint the guitar for his room — she bought him some paints.
Sort of a joyous moment to look outside and see your wife painting for the kids’ room and your son with his own little canvas painting with a brush and his fingers intermittently. He was our little painting boy that day, and he really enjoyed it. One of the things I noticed afterword is that his drawing improved. A long while before we’d purchased a small set of crayons (maybe 20 or so colors) for him to use on paper whenever he wanted to. His first “drawings” were single color and he wasn’t really focused on anything in particular. After the painting experience with his mother though he was actively trying to do something with the pigments he pushed across the paper. He selected areas to cover and colors to employ and how much to use. He still mostly scribbles, but there’s a clear intent and purpose behind it. Whether he’s trying to represent something on those pages or simply experimenting I may never know. At any rate, his experience painting with his mother changed something in his perspective towards the visual arts for the better. We couldn’t be more proud.