Our house is budding with creativity

They say that when you invite something in, you’ll find new doors open and your life will fill with those things you’ve asked for. And this seems to have proven true in our house. I’ve opened the door to creativity – I’ve been painting weekly, creating new crafts and designs, and the front room has now become a room full of paints, artwork and all sorts of creative tools – and suddenly I am surrounded by not just my own products of creativity, but those from my children as well.

I am flooded with the joy of creativity from so many directions it has been making me want to smile all day long.

It started last night… my son, who is both an artist and not an artist, completely blew me away when he showed me the artwork he created at school last week.

Rylan and his hidden talent

Rylan is actually quite good at drawing. I’ve known this from when he was age 4 and his preschool teacher brought out a drawing of an elephant he’d done that was so real and detailed, there was no doubt he had talent. The preschool teacher wrote in his parent-teacher conference notes, “He truly enjoys drawing and makes some amazing pictures for a boy his age. Not only do his pictures look like what he says they are but they usually are something only a boy with a great imagination could think up.”

If the story followed it’s natural path from here, you wouldn’t be surprised to see this amazing picture he brought home this week. But, that was not the case. Despite his potential capabilities, we’ve barely seen any art from Rylan ever.

In fact, in preschool he only showed his artistic side at school, never at home. By the time he got to elementary school, his willingness to create art barely lasted past Kindergarten. In first grade, his art teacher complained that he wouldn’t complete his assignments and gave him poor marks in art. His regular teacher said she was concerned in general about his ability to be creative, and truly thought that he had no imagination. I knew this wasn’t true; I saw how he played imaginatively at home, but I also didn’t blame his teachers for their concerns, as I could see that he wasn’t always trying, and sometimes just straight up got overwhelmed with his assignments.

You see, my son is a perfectionist. And for some perfectionists, it’s amazingly difficult to take on a task they can’t ensure they will be good at. We’ve dealt with blank sheets of paper coming home from art assignments and an unwillingness to try with most art for two years.

If you understand this history, then you understand exactly why I’m so happy with the piece he brought home this week. Not only because he actually completed the assignment – but it’s absolutely amazing!

Aubrey – a budding artist growing every day

While Rylan shows trepidation and a need to plan out artwork from the very beginning before pen touches paper, Aubrey is very willing to start letting the ink or paint flow without a plan. She willingly copies the concepts of my paintings or drawings, makes them her own, and shows little concern or judgement about what a piece is “supposed to” look like. She says she wants to be a great artist when she grows up and I am easily able to encourage her simply with inspiration and emphasis on practicing and learning new techniques.

Not a day goes by that we don’t have a new doodle or piece of art that comes home from school from Aubrey, and she can get lost in her creations for long periods of time showing she truly loves the process.

But today was also am extra special day in terms of Aubrey’s art. We just received a call from the Sonoma Valley Fire Department. She won their coloring contest! She is going to be so excited when I tell her!

Inviting Creativity

And meanwhile, not only did I just finish the above new painting last week, I am moving forward on some exciting new frames that I have put on my Etsy shop. I just got two published today and have more that will be published by the end of the week.