More Lessons From Cara.

The family came to visit this week.  Robin had an interview, I'm in bed, and we had a variety of people coming to the house, and needed someone able bodied, just in case.  I asked Cara if she would like to play with Granny's Magic Crayons, and she enthusiastically agreed; apparently the brush is magic too, but that's another story altogether.  The crayons are watercolour, which is what makes them magic, and she got to draw in Granny's sketchbook, which is special all by itself, apparently. 

She started with a flower, clearly feeling that some sort of a nod towards representational art was required...

...and told me that the shapes round the edges were petals.  Well, of course they are.  And that's where it started to get interesting, and she started having fun.  We worked out that you have to press quite hard with the crayons, and not use too much water, or you don't get good colour out of it all.  Oh, and you can dip the crayons into the water and get a really satisfying line.  And off she went.

I really like these.  They're spontaneous, bright, good fun.  Above all, Cara really enjoyed doing them, and that's what's important for her.  For me, though, I got to wondering about fun.  I enjoy making what I make, but I do get wound up about painting, still.  There's a small girl in me going, you're really bad at this, even after all this time.  And it's all so serious, deep and meaningful.  Sigh.  What about joy? 

So, after she had gone, I thought I'd see what spontaneity felt like, not to mention looked like.  Well, it didn't look like this....

Far too much thinking, not enough playing.  Worrying about meaning, balance and all that sort of stuff, despite myself, turned it into something stilted.  This was a bit better...

Still a bit stilted, though.  Too busy.   And then I thought about the way  I warm up in my sketchbooks, by scribbling...a version of taking a line for a walk.  And something clicked.

I really shouldn't have added the water; it dulled down the colour quite considerably ( two primary colours equals a secondary; three plus, equals mud).  Still, it's spontaneous, undeniably, and above all, it's fun.  One of my favourite art quotations comes from Picasso: 'It took me four years to paint like Rafael, but a lifetime to paint like a child'.  I hope Cara will put up with me until I work it out a bit.