Thoughtful Thursday

He's in his Blue Period.


Pre-child, I fancied myself an artist - primarily a watercolorist. Although it didn't take long for me to realize my love of painting was meant to be more a hobby, a leisure activity than it was a career move. Painting for me is such an involved process. It zaps my energy, takes all my focus. Leaves me feeling spent when I'm done. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the process of creating something beautiful on a pristine piece of white paper, but as a daily routine, it absorbed too much of me.

When The Little was born, I put away my painting supplies. I simply wasn't at a place in my life where I could afford to be that involved in something other than caring for my son. But he's growing now. Expressing interest in creativity, art, creating projects.

I pulled out my old painting supplies when he was about 2 and I was floored by his level of concentration, his focus as he brought brush to paper. I contemplated getting him his own set of watercolors - something a little less, I don't know...expensive? After some careful thought I decided against that. Why not let him use mine? I wasn't using them in the same manner I once was. Why not let him experience the brilliance of pure pigment and quality materials? It seemed silly to let my perfectly good watercolor materials sit idle when I had an eager little body ready and willing to put them to use.

And so he paints. Regularly. Beautifully. And it melts my heart every time.



I may never pick up my painting the way I once did, but as I sit with my boy, the early morning sun warm on our shoulders as he paints his next masterpiece I'm moved in ways I never imagined. I contemplate our next creative adventure together as we abandon his finished picture for a run through the sprinklers.

Fostering creativity, both his and mine,

Simple Mama.