Tuesday Technique'N: Make Art with a Child

A Child will Teach You ...

[Journal Pages by Ciera, used by permission,

with approval of Picnik collage play by me]

Saturday Evening

Sunday Afternoon-into-Evening

IT'S ART JOURNALING TIME!!

A round wooden table.

My Love, Ciera, in one chair;

me across from her in another.

A pile of scrap paper in the middle,

a stack of old magazines to one side,

rulers for ripping,

glue sticks,

a pair of scissors each,

& a huge cardboard box

filled with

plastic sleeves of

color-sorted papers.

A child will teach you,

immediately,

thoroughly,

how to take the

'precious'

OUT of your view of your materials.

Ciera roots & rummages

through

papers & magazines

without

hesitation or delicacy,

unceremoniously stuffing rejects back into

some case or other,

crumpling the remains of a sheet into a ball

before blinking, asking,

'Oh, did you want to save the rest?'

Forget organization,

color coordination,

crease-free or

cost --

JUST FIND WHAT YOU LIKE

&

USE IT!!

WHY ELSE DO YOU HAVE IT?!

A child will teach you

to

OWN

each page.

No 20 minute debate over

image or placement.

No acid indigestion

over color combinations.

No fainting spells

over corners not quite glued down.

Ciera creates 3 pages to every 1 of mine.

She likes the dress but not the face

on a woman?

Off comes the head,

& she glues down one she likes better.

Only once, in the 3 years

since Ciera and I have been

journaling together,

has she ever asked me about

a color combination

and that was last night:

'do black & pink look good together?'

Usually when she asks me a

'do you like it' or

'do you think I should ________?'

kind of question,

I'll say, 'Try it & let's see.'

But this time I had an emphatic opinion

& shared it:

"YES!"

If a corner lifts up,

Ciera either rips it off or

applies glue stick &

SHMOOSHES

[with both hands, mind you]

until satisfied.

A child will teach you

editing,

simplicity,

uncomplicated

'putting it out there'.

2 photos of something you want

accompanied by heart stickers

is all the embellishment

a wish page needs.

Flower images

&

a hand drawn self-portrait

with the words

Peace & Love

make a powerful mission statement.

A child will teach you

that less is NOT less,

even if the page appears

deceptively streamlined.

Ciera creates with purpose.

If asked

(& I always do)

she relates the story of each page

articulately & precisely,

& I assure you,

she isn't making it up as she goes along.

A child will teach you

that

ANYTHING

can be connected,

sensibly,

logically

to anything else.

Wizards & Pancakes?

Ciera seemed surprised

I didn't 'get' it.

She was in the mood for pancakes;

wizards could make it happen.

You see?

A child will teach you

that using what you love,

from any area of your life,

always makes a great page:

blue masking tape

(for taping blankets to chairs for forts),

Zebra tape

(because Zebras are her 'best' animal),

& pink paper stripes

(pink being, after all, her signature color)

bring all her favorite things

into brilliant & happy focus.

AND

a child will teach you

to sing your own praises,

to proudly show

everyone in the room each page

as you create it,

to sit back down,

to take a moment to 

fondly pat & smooth the page

with your palms

before turning to a clean sheet.

A child will teach you ....

* * * * *

I love you, Ciera.