Sunday, October 12, 2008

Art- Quantity vs. Quality? I love it all!

Jack adding the final touches to his master piece... Abby thinks posing for a picture is more important then the picture itself. All of it is beautiful!

I believe as a child I loved to color. Or at least I did in high school... Coloring has not been one of my favorite activities when it comes to my children- why? Because Jack and Abby believed that the best pictures are ones that are done in marker- Crayola, permanent, dry erase- it seems like any time a picture is drawn or a coloring book filled in the "marker mess" begins. Marker mess resembles an explosion at the Crayola marker factory where all the pens have been scattered amidst paper, toys, blankets, and the other miscellaneous matter my children have removed from various hiding spots in our home. I am by no means a neat freak, but I don't like to have to clean up and recap markers after my children have abandoned them on whatever surface they have decided will serve as their desk for the day. All too often that surface is the fabric ottoman, leather couch, or carpet in the game room (try getting permanent ink out of any of those fibers). Some time in early July I had had enough (actually Steve did) with the marker mess, so markers were banished from our children's' hands. Crayons only at the Kuhtz's!!! We have a marker free zone here!! In September, Jack and Abby found that coloring is fun with two clever new inventions called the crayon and colored pencil. They come in so many colors! Thus started the nightly color off. After dinner every night the kids sit down at the kitchen table (which we don't eat at) and color. I think that if this continues will will be able to solve the economic crisis just from the amount of paper my children (Abby) are able to consume on a nightly basis. So the question is quantity (Abby) or quality (Jack). Jack has never been the little Picasso that I would have expected from my creative gene pool. With the discovery of colored pencils that has all changed! People look like people, trees have detail down to the branch that holds the bird's nest. It is amazing! Abby on the other hand has no concern for the number of trees that are being cut down in order to quench her thirst for more paper and more pictures! Abby's artwork is a reflection of her personality, full of movement and expression (I am trying to be nice), and always in some tone of pink or purple with the occasional splash of variety. "What is your picture of?" I ask. Jack will tell the sorry of what is happening in the picture and about the people that live in the house and the birds that fly in the sky, Abby responses with a quick "I don't know" and is off to draw another picture. I have learned to love both of my little artists traditional and abstract approaches to their artwork. Now the problem is how much of it to save...

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