14 Comments
author

That is such a love-filled story. Would you be willing to share the painting? I had the thought that all small children’s art comes from the creation of the world.

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Love this. Appreciate your willingness to not label or describe and simply allowing things to flow. Simple but not easy. And the painting is delightfully and vibrantly alive.

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author

Thank you, Minx. I'm entirely new to this. Both making art and making it together with children. I think the latter has a very positive effect on the former. There's no room for self-consciousness.

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"There are still so many possibilities..." (At any age I think, but now we have to be open, don't we? And not walled off.)

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author

I think the difference is that small children don't have concepts that get in their way like the concept of possibility. They just do what feels right.

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Madelyn is so "close to the ground," Susie, and so are you, here. What a luscious, generous word painting you share here. Thank you.

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author

She touches something in me I didn't know was there.

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Beautiful story. Lucky Madelyn; lucky you. To be around to play with your great grandchildren—what a gift!

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author

An unexpected blessing. Puts lots of other things in perspective.

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This is a beautiful story and painting that really resonates with me. I made a finger painting when I was 3 or 4 years old that my orthodox Jewish grandparents thought looked like the creation of the world. They framed it and hung it in their bedroom. I have it now in my house. (I'm 72 now!)

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It's a wonderful description of the freedom of childhood and yes, all the possibilities. It's hard for an adult to simply paint colors on a piece of paper. It almost scares me to try; after all, I'm supposed to make something.

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She gave me a lot of instruction...put more blue here, make it go to the edge of the paper. The amazing thing is that she seems to be able to choose to just play around or make decisions about what she wants. I just followed her lead. It felt revolutionary and very satisfying.

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This is just lovely and the painting - not that this matters - is museum quality.

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It feels amazing to me, a total non-starter as a visual artist.

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