This year at my daughters’ summer camp, the art instructor used sketchbooks. She said sketching was in keeping with the theme for the camp, Look To This Day. I think what she meant was that sketching was quick. You capture what’s in front of you — a hand, a tree, maybe a thing floating in your imagination. You don’t labor over anything or tighten it up. Just sketch, then move on.
These are some of the images from Em’s sketchbook. Em is eight. The first time we took her to camp, last year, she was the youngest kid there. Usually they don’t let kids attend camp unless they’re eight or over, but Em got to go at age seven since her older sister was also attending. Em loved it. She didn’t get sad or need to call home. Not that I thought she would. One thing I know about this youngest daughter of mine: she’s easy-going and independent.
This past Sunday Em and I flipped through her notebook to pick out sketches to post on red Ravine. She stopped at one done in colored pens. “This is my favorite,” she said. “It’s my teacher’s favorite, too.”
She told me the art instructor liked it so much that she made a photocopy to take home with her. Em’s whole face was smiling when she said it. Em has big teeth and a big mouth; her smile really does stretch from ear to ear. “Is it a dog,” I asked her. “Hmm,” she said. Apparently she hadn’t given it much thought until that moment. “It’s maybe a dog,” she finally said.
Maybe a dog. I like that. And I love the art instructor for making a fuss over Em’s art. We get our cues early on whether we are good or not.
Maybe A Dog, all sketches © 2007 by Em. All rights reserved.
Having met Em, I can see her grinning from ear to ear. You know what is amazing is that she hadn’t thought of what it was a sketch of – no end product in mind. It was the act of sketching that really was drawing her.
Tell Em, I love her sketches. I’m particularly drawn to the hand. And the black and whites. Are they drawn with charcoal?
The colored pen sketch looks exactly like a dog to me – confident and out there. How great Em had an instructor that encouraged her art. I bet she’s one of those teachers she remembers somewhere down the line.
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My eyes welled up when I first saw the hand. I had a quick flash of being a child reaching for my Dad’s finger. His hands were so big, it was all I could hold.
I have a perfect vision of your daughter’s smile in my mind…I love the thought of her “big teeth and mouth”…all wide and grinning. People should smile more. Children understand the importance of a smile better than adults.
The dog…and yes, definitely a dog would make a wonderful
T-Shirt. I know I’d wear it… and I’d be proud to.
But that hand, well…it’s simply beautiful to me.
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The hand is my favorite, too. I wondered if the maybe-a-dog was her favorite precisely because her teacher made the fuss over it. At Em’s age, everything is an imprint. That’s why it’s so important to encourage. I don’t think there’s such a thing as over-encouraging a child’s creative process and output (unless it’s done at another child’s expense).
The other thing I was thinking about was how much self-doubt (Monkey Mind) creeps in the older we get. I don’t know what age is starts at, but it definitely starts up and by adulthood is generally present.
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The drawing Em made of the eye is arresting – it might be a cat’s stare, it might be her increasing noting of details in what she observes. I like the hand very much, the proportion of fingers and thumb indicate she may have held her hand more horizontally as she drew, and the foreshortening of the form indicates a budding awareness of illusion of forms in space and how they change depending on the artist’s viewpoint of them. You have one observant little girl!
Love that “maybe dog” – it’s jaunty and lively. And a nice, vigourous unself-conscious drawing.
Was Em a child who drew from an early age? I hope she always will draw, and it’s great of the teacher to encourage her.
Big Grin for Em from me!
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I’ll pass on to Em the feedback. She’ll be thrilled.
QM: it is a charcoal drawing.
No, G, she hasn’t drawn too much. Her sister draws and writes constantly, and often when I tell Em that she’s a good artist, she’ll say, NO, Dee’s a good artist, not me. She admires her sister, plus she has a very generous nature and probably will always look up to her sister.
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Awwww… I LOVE child art so much! At one point in time, I was actually thinking of becoming an elementary school art teacher… And, one thing I learned when dealing with children and art is not to guess what it is they have created. Let them tell you first. If you guess, and then it’s wrong, they may be discouraged by your perception of what they have created, even if they don’t exactly know what that is… just a little food for thought… 🙂
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Good point. I’ve done that before and seen Em’s face drop when I guess the wrong thing.
There’s an artist in Santa Fe named Richard Campiglio whose style resembles toddler art. He spoke to us at a Natalie Goldberg workshop, and he did a slideshow of artists that inspired his style (e.g., Miro). Here’s a link to one of his pieces (he’s also a jeweler, and it’s hard to find links to his paintings):
http://www.newamericanpaintings.com/30thbook/newbook.htm
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I just read Em the feedback and the post. First of all, I seem to be imagining my kids growing up faster than they really are!
Em: Nine? I’m not nine! (This while I’m reading the post. Then I read her the comments.)
Em: I don’t know why everyone likes my hand the best. (This she says with a huge Geez-Awshucks grin on her face.)
Me: Do you think you’re a good artist?
Em: I don’t know.
Me: You ARE, honey!
Em: (Laughing and shaking her head) I’m not!!
Me: You ARE, you really ARE!!!
Em: OK, you can write that then. I am. (Off she runs.)
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This is sweet. I’m glad you shared it with us. I can see her running off!
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I like the way you cross out your wrong words. I think it is very original. You two are wonderful writers. I think you are both very talented. The sketches are lovely.
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Juliane, welcome, and thanks so much for your compliment. It is greatly appreciated. Hope you will visit again!
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