1 Mother 2 Another

A couple weeks ago Cora went on an art
kick, and our budding Renoir is showing no signs of slowing down.


I got out the easel – I forget why – and set it up for
Cora in our kitchen, complete with drop cloth and washable paints.
We’ll do this every once in a while; the kitchen breakfast
counter is great for most crafts – gluing sequins and
stapling books together are no problem there, and of course markers
and crayons are used almost daily. But when we want to do some
serious painting in this house we get out the easel so the artiste
can stand and admire her work and she progresses.

So I set up the easel and put out a
palette, and Cora went to work. She was a whirlwind of pastels,
churning out a good half dozen paintings in just a couple hours or
so. She called them all “Themes on a Drought”,
announcing that it was important for her to paint our recent
drought so we wouldn’t forget about it in the future.


From there, Cora moved on to “Box of Rain”, painting a
couple square clouds and some aggressive raindrops coming down.
Then she moved into a new series – “Rainbow
Garden” (and yes, she names them herself) before finally
slowing down.


Since then the work is moving less frenetically but still coming
along; I finally put the easel away a few days ago but get out her
small watercolor box for use at the breakfast table. She made me a
series of three (3!) birthday cards; one pastel paints, one marker,
and one multi-media with pop-ups and pockets. What can I say? My
girl loves to create.


I absolutely adore seeing this side of her! While I do consider
myself an artist- at least on the stage – my art is
derivative: I take something – a script, a dance, a song
– and interpret it, creating something out of something else.
I do not have talent in the genesis art – in creating
something out of nothing. And I’m fascinated when I see it. I
love seeing her eyes light up as she comes up with some idea or
image that she wants to paint. And when she paints, she goes to
town: our house is covered with pieces on pretty much every wall.
But she loves to do it, and she loves to give it away, setting
aside specific pieces for specific people.


So everyone who gets a painting for Christmas, act surprised.