becoming an artist

Olivia is a very creative person.

She loves paint, crayons, pen, papers, stickers, doilies,
fabrics, buttons, glue, ribbon, foam shapes, feathers,
pom poms, ric rac, play dough, rocks, sticks, leaves,
tissue paper, seeds, rice, leaves,
plastic cups, bowls, plates, and utensils.
The kid will use it all to create whatever.
Just don't give her a coloring book or tell her "how" to do it.
She has a hard time "staying in the lines,"
so I've encouraged her to make her own lines.
And she has, quite effectively and beautifully.
New words and new names for things are a constant in our home.
I love it.
Living a creative life, having a creative home,
and cultivating a creative atmosphere is one of my {many} goals.
Kids are so boxed in by this rule and that rule and right and wrong.
They aren't in control of their world very often
(and I absolutely understand why!)
but they crave being the "maker," the "controller," the decision maker.
Making art and being creative can fill that need.
Imagine my delight when I found these two books at the library last week.
As soon as we read them,
I just knew I would have to share them here with you guys.

The Dot tells a story of a young girl who believes that she can't draw anything. And with a little encouragement and an eye opening assignment from her art teacher, a whole new world opens up to her. And then, on the last page or two, she passes the wisdom on.


Ish is my favorite. It's is totally endearing. A big brother laughs at an aspiring young artist's drawing and he decides to never draw again. But, a little sister has other plans. She shows him that things can be -ish and still be just perfect. Which leads into seeing life in a whole new was. You can draw things that are "house-ish" or "vase-ish" but you can also feel "silly-ish" or "peace-ish," even "poem-ish." It's a story of how things don't have to be perfect in order to be right.

Both of these books are written by by Peter H. Reynolds. His official website is here. His goal in these two books is to teach children that even if someone laughs at you, tells you that you can't draw a straight line, or that you aren't creative, to follow your own path and do art that makes you happy. Because, in the end, that's why we make art. To satisfy our soul.