Little Picasso

I think I have mentioned, oh two or ten thousand times, that Lil Man most definitly has an artistic eye. He is able to draw almost anything from his imagination - rather than havng to have a model in which to copy. Miss Thing needs to look at reference to draw - and she gets VERY frustrated if her drawings do not live up to her expectations.

It reminds me of myself as a child. My father had unbelievable artistic abilities. I was very envious of them as a young kid and worked extra hard to try to make them look like his. Miss Thing is the same way - but with less focus. She has MANY things she is interesting in - playing guitar, reading, singing, karate - you see my point.

Lil Man's sole purpose in life is to document each and every thought he has on paper. He is endlessly drawing. And he is very talented for his young age. You can see some examples below from the Town Rec Art Class he took in Kindergarten. (I thought I had posted these already - but I can't find them.) To set the stage, this was an outside the school art class - that I paid for - this is a collection of the the VERY FIRST DAY OF CLASS.







Talented and funny as hell. I think I must have laughed harder THAT day than I ever have in MY WHOLE LIFE.

From his first day of preschool, I knew he had talent. I walked in to pick up my missing appendage - as he was my BABY and had never left my side until this point and the teachers swarmed me.

"We have NEVER seen a kid draw like your son!!"

I'll be honest, I didn't even know he COULD draw at that moment. I had never SEEN him do it. I felt bad for not knowing his talents. But, I was a full time working mom IN THE HOME and he played very well independently and I guess he had been drawing away on his own. Thus, handing down the torch from Loser Mom from the first kid - awesome.

They showed me his drawings of a whale. That he drew from his head. At age 3. It had DETAILS. Water spouting out, ocean floor with sealife and plants. They were amazed. And I was proud. REALLY PROUD.

Fast forward to this weekend, countless crayons, markers and pads of paper later - we were sitting in Friendly's Restaurant booth. I love establishments who take the endless waiting into consideration and give the kids those booklets with little activities to do and some crayons. It occupies them and makes me not want to kick them under the table.

Both kids are quietly devouring all of the activities and have moved on to the back cover where there is a large open area for free thinking drawing. While DH and I are enjoying some peaceful little banter, Miss Thing is using her 3 crayons to create a mosaic or stain-glass effect. It is very pretty. I am not really paying attention as DH and I are talking over some new car buying plans.

DH looks over to Lil Man's paper, who is sitting directly in front of me, and his eyes bug out.

"What?? Are you ok? Are you choking on the waffle fries?"

"Did you see what he is drawing?" Dh whispers just under his breath.

I look over and I start to chuckle.

"Is it?" DH is lost for words.

"Yeah, I believe it is."

Lil Man is oblivious to this as he is in the ZONE.

I am full-on laughing at this point. "Lil Man? Are you drawing Jesus on the cross?"

"Yeah." he answers in a no big deal manner. He has made the cross the same mosaic stainglass effect his sister used and he has ALL the details in there.

DH is clearly uneasy of the fact that Lil Man is drawing Our Savior as he died for our sins.

I think it's hysterical and SO Lil Man to draw whatever had popped into his head.

"Can he DO that? I mean, what if someone else sees?" DH whispers to me.

No great artist ever got that way by censoring their beliefs. Lil Man drew what was on his mind. He did not make fun or be disrespectful.

We left the drawing for the waitress. What do you think she thought of it?