Thursday, August 26, 2010

Painting Fundas for Parent-Kid Conversations

My son, Jyotiraditya loves to draw, color and paint. When I stumbled across an interesting write up in Resurgence March - April 2009, I jotted it down for my reference but forgot to write the name of the author. I regret that but I wish to share what I read with you all here.

So, the excerpt courtesy the British magazine, Resurgence is given below:

"Children doing their first paintings clearly relish the sensuousness of paint and delight in creating seas of chosen color. Their innocence is chipped away at when we ask what the paintings are of. A fear of not knowing what a painting represents is a mask of our safely tethered desire for reading a picture, and for some people, there is the fear of being tricked by that which is not immediately evident and rooted."

What I liked best about the passage is that it gives parents the right set of hints about how to propel a child's creativity in the right way. Before I read this, I used to ask my son when he drew or painted something, "What is this?" I think that it is important to let the painter paint as his imagination guides him. The reasoning can perhaps be dissected later. The actual pleasure lies in painting itself. Purposelessness to any activity is not a terrific idea but beauty cannot be measured, nor can creativity. So, when one asks a child to think in terms of logic, the flight of imagination becomes restricted and a child feels an artificial pressure of trying to measure up to address the question put forth by the parent. Now, after reading this passage, I try to enjoy the drawing or painting and ask, "How did you feel when you were painting this? What did you think about when you did this?"

I must confess the conversation that follows is so spontaneous and educative for me as a parent and for my kid, the little messy artist.

7 comments:

annucool15 said...

wow... very useful insight! will keep in mind always... thanks for sharing!

SG said...

Nice one. I am sure Jyothiraditya is the next Pablo Picasso

Mridula said...

My daughter like to scribble as well with sketch pens, we have not given her water colors as yet and we fear the consequences when we do!

I agree and I somehow have resisted the urge to ask what he is drawing as she at this point exerts all the pressure in getting something imprinted on the paper. Glad to know that others think the same way too.

Aparna said...

Nice post...a good post on parenting and painting...

PS...Thank you for following me..do drop by often...

R. Ramesh said...

the little messy artist..haha poor sweet felo....children r so lovable and unpolluted unlike adults..:)
thanks for yr kind words boss...i am also consoling myself that daughter n her classmates were not hurt by the train robbers..thanks 4 yr support mate...:)

chitra said...

Sanand
Read you post. I am happy you are enjoying your time with your son.We must be behind our children not after them :)
see you.

Sanand said...

@Anuradha - Glad to know you found it useful. Thanks!

@SG - Ha, I just want him to savor every activity that he does more than anything. He says he wants to be an actor and a doctor!

@Mridula - LOL,i know what you mean but why don't you give her the watercolors and see how much fun and creativity that brings? Of course, get ready for the mess:)

@Aparna - thx!

@RRamesh - When i mentioned messy, I was being diplomatic, its a lot messier than messy can be:) Hope alls fine at the home front.

@Chitra - yes, thanks!