“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” —Albert Einstein
Okay, so I'm no Einstein, by any stretch. But these words inspired me to make the rounds of the artwork hanging throughout our house and think about the talent and, specifically, the imagination of each of the artists. And then I came across these two pieces, created by my girls at an art class a friend of mine had at her place. The kids were studying the renowned Harlem Renaissance artist William H. Johnson, whose folksy art always featured beautiful images of African Americans—their arms stretched wide, their legs leaping. Exploring. Praising. Happy. Their instructor, Jackie Ellett, whom I written about before HERE on MyBrownBaby, asked her charges to paint an expressive picture of a child with arms stretched wide; Mari's is up top, in the orange, and Lila's is the yellow.
They make the walls around here sing.
And inspire us to use our imaginations to make up fantastic tales about why the girls in the pictures are happy.
Which always makes us leap for joy.
My hope is that they'll make you smile, too.
Enjoy!
(Note: Lila wanted me to stress that when she painted that picture, she was four. And she's a MUCH better painter now that she's seven. Also, Mari wanted me to note that the black spots on her character's jeans are pockets. Not armpits. Just in case there was any confusion and stuff.]
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Simply beautiful! Isn't it great how our children can conjure up such beautiful music in our hearts, and in your case, on the wall too! Thank for sharing your treasures :)
ReplyDeleteI love the pictures. The really long arms are so fun.
ReplyDeleteSeeing these lovely works of art just makes me more excited about the day my little one starts to draw and paint.
ReplyDeleteThat looks really good for 4 yrs old! I'm definitely going to display my daughters work when she gets big enough to make it.
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