Monday, February 15, 2010

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.

4 comments:

  1. Lovely fun with Ciera, She is a little talent isnt she. glad you get time to do this with her.
    beautiful memories and works. take care.

    ReplyDelete
  2. learning from children is something I wish I had done more of when they were little...

    toni, this was beautiful....

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wish i had done more of that with my child.
    Ciera is a lucky little girl to have a great aunt./

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderful post, Toni. So true, too! You hit a lot of areas that I struggle with...good to see it from another viewpoint. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

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