Visiting with my young granddaughters not long ago I spied a colorful piece of artwork on the easel done by the three and a half year old. It was a rainbow of primary colors — quite brilliant and colorful, covering most of the page. Her name was spelled across the bottom by one of her parents. I smiled, quite impressed at the energy and broad sweeps of color. I wondered if she would let me have it…
As she wandered through the room I commented on her exciting artwork, and as she skirted past me she offhandedly said “It’s a mistake…” I looked back at her painting, quite stunned by her comment, and watched her as she continued out of the room involved in her current play adventure. Hmmm… A mistake? What did she mean by that? Looked rather appropriate to me for a child of her age… And I really did like the energy and excitement it seemed to give the observer.
What actually does a child of that age define as a “mistake?” Definitely a topic of conversation to bring up with her during one of our shared morning breakfasts… It would be no surprise to have yet another family member who is a perfectionist, but sad to note so young. Somehow I must make sure she understands that not all mistakes are bad, in fact, many are extremely valuable as they help us to grow and learn. I wonder what she learned from her work of art…
Her grandfather (excitedly referred to as “Pa”) also loves to oil paint when time permits. He does excellent work with landscapes and abstract scenes, every detail precise and carefully created. Once he painted a portrait of our two daughters in their teen years. Their facial features, despite his hard work, look distorted! We all laugh hysterically when it gets pulled out from behind a large stack of what my husband classifies as “rejects.”
Was that portrait of our daughters a mistake? No. It was an effort to capture our girls in a painting. It turned out to be a rendering that is not accurate, but does entertain us! And there was a lesson in that experience for my husband — portraits are not his best talent! He could take lessons to perfect those skills or concentrate his efforts on styles that are more natural for him. But he tried, and it has brought our family its own sort of joy, although far from meeting his own artistic standards. I don’t doubt that every artist has their very own stack of “reject” paintings…
Who knows, maybe that painting on the easel done by our granddaughter was one that in her mind didn’t tap her creative style as she would like… I am curious about what lesson she might have learned…