musings on painting

I've been trying to find some time to post about the very interesting topic (to me anyway) of painting and more generally creative development in children, at least according to the Enki Education model. This should be taken as my own interpretation of what I've learned, and not as quoting the Enki educational model (it's just my understanding of it).


This first photo is of one of Zoo Boy's paintings from this past month (in fact, it was this week's painting). In Kindergarten the purpose of working with wet-on-wet watercolor painting is to allow the children to explore the color interaction and qualities in their own right, without the distraction of form or formal instruction. If the child continues to paint in this fashion into first grade, it's perfectly fine to let them continue this way (and into second grade and beyond, for that matter). Zoo Boy's painting has always embraced this spirit of discovery and creativity. Seriously, I would pay money for his paintings, I think they are incredible reflections of childhood and wonder. I'm so lucky I have them decorating my walls for free!


Last year J possessed a similarly free approach to painting (although he tended to "name" the painting). This fall, when we load our paint boards with paper, his first question has been "What are we going to paint?" I give an appropriately uncommitted answer ("Whatever we feel like"), but as you can see from his most recent painting, he is looking to paint SOMETHING. Which leads me to realize that it's time to provide a bit of guidance. Sure, eventually the kids WILL be painting things. But right now the goal is still experimentation. FEELING the process of painting, rather than producing a recognizable end result.

The transformation had already begun over the summer. Even though the art classes that I signed the boys up for (few and far between, as I feel like we get PLENTY of art during our time at home) were heavy on the process and lite on the product, I could still see a difference in what they created during their own "free time" at the end of classes. Here's one of Zoo Boy's watercolors done after a summer class. Another masterpiece of creative experimentation.

And here's one of J's.

So I'm giving more thought to my approach to painting for the coming months. Enki suggests telling "painting stories" as the kids paint, for inspiration and gentle guidance. For example "Little Red was so excited when she got out of bed that she ran to and fro and jumped up and down with excitement. Grandpa Blue saw Little Red's excitement, and wrapped her up in his big arms to calm her." While telling this story, I would be working on my own painting, using quick, up and down and back and forth strokes for Little Red's portion, and smooth, rounded strokes for Grandpa Blue's.

I'm kind of hoping that this story telling method will be useful in guiding myself to a less-contrived style of painting. This painting is mine, and is pretty typical of all of my paintings. (Ignore the blotches -- although it's probably the most interesting aspect of this painting -- it's caused by my experimentation with using cheap watercolor paper -- NOT worth it!) I just can't seem to capture the essence of creativity that Zoo Boy can with his work, despite the fact that we're using the same method and the same paints. For some reason I tend to freeze up and semi-panic when it comes time to lay brush to paper. Hopefully telling a story while I paint will help me forget my self-consciousness, and I won't be so embarrassed to publish my next painting for the world to roll their eyes at.

Stay tuned....