A PAINTING!?

Savannah Summer, 20x24 Oil on Canvas...There was a day awhile back when I didn't feel like getting my fingers dirty with pastels. The kids were squirrelly, the baby wasn't "self-entertained," shall we say, but I wanted to do some art. I like working in most art media...except for oil paints. I steer clear of the slow drying, "have to wait" kind of stuff, and jump right to "I can finish fast if I want to" type of stuff (i.e. pastels!!!) But on this particular day, I thought, "What the heck, let's paint!" I sat on the floor with my canvas propped up, and started painting one of the beautiful trees near my sister's home in Savannah, using my pretty much unopened tubes of oil paint. Given the nature of that day, I ended up completing the piece more quickly than intended, with a baby on my lap (angled AWAY from wet paint!) and my son busily creating his own art on the floor next to me (a little too close to the painting for my comfort!). So it may not have been the most reflective, or the most tranquil painting experience, but hey, I PAINTED! IN OILS! This painting will be at the BAA Juried Show this weekend! Join us tonight for the reception, 5:00-8:00, at Christopher House Antiques near Pepper Place, downtown Birmingham.

Copycats

War Helicopter, oil pastel by my son, 4 years old...I love my kids. They crack my husband and I up with their schemes, and they love to copy us. One day it might be our little boy walking in with his chin tucked back, his chest puffed out, holding a pretend cup of coffee, saying in a deep voice "Hmph, I'm Dad. I'm going to work now." Or our daughter popping out of her room ("Ta da!") dressed exactly like me in jeans, blue T-shirt, bandana head band and flip flops, proclaiming herself "Mini Mom." Its funny and scary at the same time, watching these little copycats. Some of the things we do, I hope they don't copy: like when I have a meltdown after a long day, or when we get too busy to enjoy what is happening around us. Good and bad, children will absorb the way their parents live, interact and behave. They watch us, even when we don't know it. By watching me create art, my kids have learned to draw from life and from pictures. My son likes to use our iPhones and google "helicopters" and "garbage trucks" and draw the pictures he likes (I always have to "preview" the pictures first...it is sadly amazing what images will pop up for something so simple!). Above is his "war helicopter," drawn from an image he found on Google. Below is our daughter's rendition of our back porch, with our bird feeders and sleeping dogs.

Back Porch, pencil sketch by my daughter, 6 years old