Boys and artwork

Sitting during worship with my boys is an interesting experience, and not always the most worshipful. I was helping Samuel with his paper and pens when the sermon started, and after he was done with dot to dots, he started drawing. Dh, who was sitting on the other side of Samuel, noticed after a few minutes that Samuel was drawing and because markers can be incredibly loud in a quiet room told him to write slower and quieter.

I watched Samuel for a few minutes and I thought about my own childhood drawings. I remember drawing trees, flowers, stick people, houses, rainbows, and other such girly things. I distinctly remember creating a full picture that could proudly be displayed on the refrigerator at home. Samuel, I noticed drew just like JM had done, his drawings are not static pictures. They are a process, and the end result really does not do the picture justice.

The final result of the drawing is a glimpse into Samuel's imagination. It's still proudly displayed on the refrigerator, but others can not make out what it is. To them it looks like a bunch of colors scribbled all together.

I see the ship. Inside the ship I see the people, and that green person is JM. I'm the purple dot-person. The red line going to the ship is the enemy firing something at the ship. The window filled with red is because the enemy shot that window out and that area is on fire now. The blue lines are us firing back at the enemy, the other red lines are the enemy firing back at us. The big blue scribble is the enemy ship exploding (underneath all those scribbles is a fairly cool little spaceship with red aliens). Then we can not forget the smoke from our ship. Nor can we forget the lifeboats that the aliens escaped in, and see, they are floating down to the planet. Oops, that one crashed.

Then, Samuel turns the page and starts a new "drawing" that is just as involved. Very rarely does he continue his story.

I've tried very hard not to correct either of my boys and make them draw a static scene. Why is a static scene correct? Is it really? What if, their drawings are the more correct? I don't know. I know the final products will never win art awards, but to me, they are priceless. They are priceless because they show their imaginations. Drawing, to my boys (especially when they are younger) is all about the process. As JM has gotten older he has made some drawings that are more static. Samuel is really good at tracing his hand. Both boys will color in pictures (Samuel's is always solid blue and JM's is always green).