Raising an artist

The weather is warm..the birds are chirping at this early morning. My first coffee of the day is brewing....

My daughter is preparing herself for school. Looking at her, I could see a little girl slowly becoming a lady. Where time goes? It seems it was only yesterday when I gave birth to her. She perfectly growing up fast. If only I could keep her as a baby forever. 
Last Saturday I sent her to a drawing class. The topic is self-portrait drawing. It was a wonderfull time for her despite that she is a bit sick after an overnight camping with friends. See she is camping without us now. *sigh!
Without further hesitation, when I told her she has to attend drawing class today, she got too excited at once! I exclaim that it can be a little too hard for her for they have been running the class for 3 past sessions. Nonetheless, she was adamant.

And so we went.
It was my former colleague at the school (where I formerly teach English)  who run this drawing class at MY SCHOOL OF ENGLISH in the heart of Bytom, Poland.  I would link their facebook page below.

So, they started with free style of drawing their face. This is what she did first....

free style drawing 

Later they were asked to describe themselves. Their unique characteristics would somehow explains how they draw their faces. They wrote all the characteristics describing their personality all over the face they just drew. This is how  they draw their own self without yet proper technical instructions, And the mirror would aid them to look at their faces.

Teacher Agata explaining the technical part of drawing a face

After the lecture / explanation on how to draw a portrait technically and all, she came up with this self-portrait drawing.

Before and after drawing

How to raise an artist?

Oh well, we are all born one. Would you believe it?

 All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. 

-Pablo Picasso

That is true. I totallly agree with Pablo.

Give a child a simple object, he can transform that into something. Early on, we have to nourish their brain with all the creative energy and secretes those creative juices by letting them think of an idea. Let their imagination run freely. I usually read them books before bedtime or that telling them stories that would engage their brain with stimulating talks. Of course, they would come up with a lot of questions of how's and why's, but that is great. That means, you are doing great for you are stimulatinng their sense of thinking and imagination.

Let a child be bored. That is the best moment that their brain would start to do something. They would look for something they can do and they would eventually came up with  something unique ideas and inventions. My son is into Lego. Give him a lego, he can build stay in one corner for some hours and buil it into whatever he pops up in his brain and rebuil it again until he gets tired.

When my children would tell me, ' mum, I am bored!' I would usually answer them with 'that's good. Do something that would not make you feel bored '. Or that I would ask them such question, What do you want to do today? You want to feel that feeling of boredome all day long or would you like to do something together with mummy?

Usually they feel bored with the usual toys they are playing so I switch it more often when they were still a little. It is like shopping a new toy from their own box of collected toys. 

More often now, I could see that children find gadgets like tablets and smartphones fascinating other than the toys lying on their bedroom floor because it is instant engagement and entertainment. Their brain don't need to think more because it is there. They just have to push the button and voila! Imagination is lost and much more that sense of focus. Though I am not against giving a child gadgets for they both have their own tablets, but with limitations and full control of us parents.

So, I usually came up with an idea to try to persuade them to make something out of what they already have. 

Go for a walk in the park or do some sports together. It is always stress relieving. Lately, I am teaching my children how to play badminton for I am really into this sports since then other than running. Running just came lately. Letting them go active is one way for their brain to exercise the process of stimulating and working. Do some activity together and help me out with some household chores that they can do at their age like baking and cooking with me. Preparing the table before the meal time. Do things together that they like and you all like doing together. My children likes cycling and we usually cycle together when the weather is warm.

What usually stops us from becoming an artist because of pressure of the world we live in. When our parents and society tells us that being an artist like that painting all the time could not provide a food on the table or that would finance us for life, that stops us. Because our society tells us that having a fabulous career where it keeps us well financial is the best life we could ever have. 

I usually encourage my children to practice whatever you feel you love doing. My daughter is fun of drawing, sketching while my boy loves to build and design things out of ordinary things. So I'm supportive of them for that. Of course, first and foremost, studying must comes first. Putting a lot of new learnings would take them to places, that's how I encourage them. 

I stumbled upon this writings...

"It would be an awful world if everyone was an artist or a writer, the world needs so many different things. But I've seen a lot of artists die or killed off in my life, that is a sad thing. It seems our world is preparing children to serve the corporate masters of the world, to learn the things they need to learn to worship in the new religion, to pay their bills and fit the changing needs of the business world." (beladfarm.com)

 

True to its word. 

What stops us from becoming an artist is pressure of society. If you feel like your child is into arts or into some kind of sports, go and support it. But don't go overboard. I guess you know what I mean of that.

 

With my daughter, It is me who introduced her to the world of arts and drawings. She observes me doing a lot of art at an early age. I paint. I sew, I diy-ed a lot of things at home. I create a lot of things out of something.  That is my way of fighting boredome especially if you are a foreigner to a country where language is also so foreign to me. Arts is always been my way of expressing and divertion.

Picasso is really right. We are born an artist and creative. We have to remain to the challenge of how to remain like one once we grow up.

Now, how to raise an artist. Be like one! Don't stop.............

I think I did right in raising an artist. I hope so.

Have a good day!

xo Ai

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. Pablo Picasso
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/pablopicas169744.html

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. Pablo Picasso
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/pablopicas169744.html