stumblingtoholiness

zfirstborn is my little artist.  Now 8, he has been drawing since he could hold a pencil.  Rarely seen without his art supplies, I often need to convince him he does not need to take all his pastels, pencils, watercolors and art books with him. His bag ends up weighing more than he does and I have real concern for his back.  He then proceeds to painfully empty the bag of all but a sketchbook and pencils.

I love seeing what he puts on the page, but it has also been a challenge.  Picture after picture flies from the tip of his pencil.  I love his eagerness and imagination and want in no way to stifle those things but I also know he is capable of much more, if only he would exert himself to the work of art.  Most of my attempts to steer him in that direction however, have failed miserably and I have backed away because I don’t want something so important to him to be a matter of contention or strife.

Fast forward to Christmas.  zmr bought me some deliciously buttery pencils and a new sketchbook and watercolor pencils.  I sat down to some very elementary sketching.  zfirstborn sat beside me and diligently practiced everything I was doing!  We talked about practice and work and how those things can give us the tools to create.  I saw him begin to work on basic shading techniques over the course of the next few days and was thrilled for him.  I knew it would add a whole new dimension to his efforts.

Then we went on the visit zmr’s mother and grandmother to celebrate Christmas with them.  We had a lovely day, the children especially.  One of the gifts that zfirstborn received from his grandmother, who is an amazing artist herself, was incredibly thoughtful and I believe it has inspired him to push the limits of his capabilities even more.

zmr’s mother has carefully photographed zfirsborn’s artwork whenever she has visited, always offering encouragement to him, not to mention keeping him well supplied.  For Christmas this year she chose a selection of his work and put it into a book.  He was moved beyond words.  He couldn’t speak.  He really felt like his work was something of importance.  He was an artist, with a book to prove it.  Below is a selection from that book.  The art in it ranges over the past couple years.

I think this book has really shown zfirstborn that his art is important, beyond just the fact that he enjoys to do it.  He can create!  His work is valued and appreciated.  But I also believe it has challenged him.  Seeing his work collected in a book made him consider what the purpose of his art is.  Not that art always has to have a specific purpose outside of that urge to create but more in line with the idea that if something is worth doing it is worth doing well.

At home the next day, zfirstborn began to draw, as he does everyday.  But what he put on the page that day blew me away.  He looked at a sketch of a dwarf in a book about the making of the Hobbit.  Below is his version.

I firmly believe that each of us, made in the image of God, has been endowed with a desire to create in some way.  Whether it is through visual art, music, cooking, performance, or creating a welcoming and beautiful home, each of us has a real need to pour ourselves into something, mold it, refine it, order it, and put our own mark upon it.  I also believe that many of us are more talented in “the arts” than most realize.  A good education used to include real instruction in visual art and music, regardless of an individual’s natural born talent.  There are certainly those who are more skilled than others and who see things in different ways.  But art does not have to be earth shattering, social commentary.  It can flow from one’s God given need to create, find beauty in, or just make sense of the world.

I am no great artist and have no extraordinary skill to speak of.  But the feel of a pencil gliding across a page, looking at something and trying to represent it in some way, capture a part of God’s creation and make something new from it, delights me.  I have studied art, history, aesthetics, fine art, folk art, architecture, etc.  I love going to museums and gazing upon piece after piece.  I love going to craftsmen and art fairs.  But the art I truly enjoy the most isn’t found in a museum or a history book.  It is the art of those people in my life who simply do it.

My mother in law, my children, a church member who failed out of art in elementary school but in her retirement picked up a brush and is painting; these people cover a wide array of skill levels and training.  One is an artist with work in galleries across the country and work that hangs in chateaus in France, down to the child discovering crayons.  The latter of which may have made some freshly painted walls suffer a bit.

Encourage your little artists.  Give them space and materials with which to create.  Tread carefully and challenge them.  Even they might be surprised at what they are capable of.