It's that time of year again when everyone seems to know each other and cow dung gets stuck to your shoes. The Royal Winter Fair is in town and packed with hard-working farmers and equally determined art students. Above are a couple of little critters hanging around the petting zoo, but more importantly I wanted show you the piece below.
This is the work of four year-old Anna who, after looking over my shoulder for several minutes, wanted to paint as well. I offered her a page, taught her how to use the water-brush, and made sure her mom was cool with it. After a few strokes, I asked Anna what she was painting."What?" she replied.
"Yeah, what is it that you're painting?" I repeated. After a long, confused pause and without looking up, Anna said,
"It's just painting."
IT'S JUST PAINTING. Well, didn't I feel silly. This four year-old was just painting for the pure enjoyment of putting colour on paper. She would rejoice when she saw what colour showed up on the page and was neither under a time constraint nor the pressure of having to hand in her work.
There was a time when all of us believed it was "just painting", so thank you, Anna, for showing me the big picture. I'll try not to forget it.
4 comments:
nice cock.
Beautiful and beautiful:-) wow... talk about finding the essence...i love how children have this amazing ability to cut through the chaff and see with such simple purity and clarity. thank you anna and jamie for the reminder. let's not let the goal take over the journey. Here's to not losing track of why we chose this path in the first place, because we love it!!!
p.s. btw..have to agree with chris;-p
I wanted to say what San said :)
You show that you understand not just the value of art, but the poetry of childhood. In fact, they go hand in hand, it is all about essence, like San said. Congratulations!
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