The Boy, the Artist

When James was a tiny baby, people would tell me he was going to be an artist.  Not people who knew his daddy was an artist, but perfect strangers.  It was the way he kept his eyes wide open, observing every detail and not wanting to miss a thing.  

He is still that way.  In fact, I have met few people quite so observant.  Often the things he notices pop up in his art. Like the drawing below, for example.  There is a character from the Magic School Bus books that he really likes, Ralphie.  Ralphie always wears his hats backwards. This kid here, next to the rocket, his hat is on backwards.  

I don't know if James will grow up to be an artist, but he certainly is one now.  He really loves to draw.  He spends at least an hour a day drawing.  Often he spends 2.  Sometimes it is the first thing he does when he wakes up in the morning.  Or he spends his afternoon rest time with markers, colored pencils and a stack of paper. 

He doesn't like to color.  Oh he does it on occasion, at Sunday school or something, but he never asks for the coloring books at home.  He asks to draw.  And he doesn't draw one thing.  His drawings are many and varied.  Like the one above with the giant green boots.  It's titled, "Boots and Tents."  Why?  Because you wear boots when you go camping.  The one next to it is a monster truck with mud on the wheels.  No details escape that boy.

He is really into drawing robots.  He draws at least one a day.  This one is hard to see cause it is in pencil, but I'd like to point out how dangerous it is.  (His words)  It is a torpedo launching robot.  Do you see all the torpedoes it is launching?  That is something that amuses me about James' art.  One minute he is drawing a torpedo launching robot, the next he is drawing a rainbow house full of his happy family and a merman.  His interests are broad.

I like to display his art for him.  He has a gallery space in his room, but sometimes I'll make another one in the dining room, or living room.  He really wants to put some of his work behind glass, in a real frame.  I don't know who gets more pleasure from his art, him or me.  I do know that creativity is a beautiful thing to see blossoming in my child.  Just as beautiful as his apple trees or his torpedo launching robot.