Collective Work

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This started out actually as a little ‘exercise’ for our oldest to learn how to draw faces. On Friday I had a parent meeting at school with the teacher. Those who know us I don’t have to explain that the last year was not easy for him to adjust to the new environment and language. I’ll spare you all of that, but what struck me was that not only is he ‘behind’ on language but also his entire development seems to be a bit ‘on hold’. As an art-teacher I should maybe feel embarrassed that my son can not draw the things he’s supposed to be able to draw at this age. No faces, no little stick-figures…he’s still completely in his experimental/scribbling stage and seems not to be bothered by the pre-schematic stage. Not that I’m worried though. He simply loves drawing and painting and I’m sure the symbols, once he discovers them and all what he can do with them, he will pick up when he’s ready.

I actually don’t think I should at this point stretch it. I wanted to teach him a bit (I have been teaching him shapes before many times), but soon realised that it was all in vain. Especially with the youngest one joining in, and mom not able to give her attention to two wild guys at the same time, things soon went out of hand (and on the floor, and even in the mouth). I refer to an earlier post in which I promised myself not to take too much pics of my kids, and especially not make them pose in front of the camera. It became quite clear that next time I should participate more instead of deciding to take pictures. I believe in letting children be as creative as possible, to give them the room to experiment…BUT….this should all happen under proper guidance. I know this…but keep on making this mistake with my own kids, while when I was teaching I think I actually was doing a good job in ‘guiding’ kids to discover rather then copy. Anyway, this is not a blog about my journey becoming a somewhat decent dad, but about photography, so on with the pictures…

Oh…yes the result of our collective work: we all pitched in a bit. Although the original idea was to make something ‘Ensor-like’ ( the canvas filled with masks, since it’s carnival weekend) it turned out more like a crossing of Willem de Kooning and  Jackson Pollock, both painters I learned to appreciate a lot.  At least, that’s probably only the opinion of a proud dad.

I like these kind of pictures where they actually become part of the painting. I don’think it’s always necessary to look straight into the camera. These kind of images tell a lot more about how much they got ‘into’ it.

The last two pics I found speaking more in black and white. I also had this with an earlier series (black and white, colour, colour2). The last picture was taken just after the little one could not resist to have a taste of his paintbrush. The poor kid didn’t like it at all. Don’t worry: mom cleaned him seconds after. we’re not that cruel.