A Budding Artist

Collins loves to create. She loves to paint flowers and rainbows, she loves to draw pictures of our family members, she loves to cut things out and paste them together in unusual ways, and she loves to take random objects around the house and turn them into "art". I think it's really cool how she thinks outside the box and gets in "the zone" when she is creating.

I recently dared to clean out from under the bed in the guest bedroom. That is where years of Collins's artwork has been "stored" and trust me, she brings home A LOT. I have some of her favorite pieces on display above the mantel, but I decided to take pictures of the other pieces for permanent record. Then I trashed them (sorry C when you read this someday- there is simply not enough room in our house for all of them!). But I thought it would be neat to post the progress she has made over the years in the art department.

It all started with a bunch of swirls and the realization that painting was fun...

Then a story accompanied the swirls..."This is a cave and a little girl is living in it. And she is scared because inside was a bear."

Then an actual image formed...

That gave her the confidence to try to draw people...

and eventually those people turned into our family. Love our varying sizes and hairstyles. :)

Then Collins decided she would look fancier with a tiara...

A little while later, her figures took on more realistic facial features...

Drawing a self portrait was one of the early assignments in the 4's class this year. I laughed when I saw that C gave hers rainbow hair (and a tiara)...

She was really excited when she realized she could draw flowers (and write her name!)...

and use stencils at school to create a make her first mermaid.

She paints almost daily at school now and very quickly her pictures have become more detailed, colorful and impressive!

I love seeing the progression! I'm really proud of her and her burgeoning art skills.