Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Great Art

Meet my new desktop wallpaper. It is a Jim The Small Child Nephew Original.

Of course, I had a gallery preview. We spoke on the phone last week and there was a sudden pause in his usual announcements concerning trucks and cake.

"Colors!" he said.

"He's showing you the picture he made in preschool," his mother added in the background, and I immediately praised his genius, how the composition, balance, and advancing colors were so carefully undertaken. When it arrived in folded into a greeting card, I attached his vision to the refrigerator with a clip stolen from a pretzel bag. I will suffer stale pretzels for the sake of my nephew's art, because even though I am literally ten times his age and am halfway through a car loan, he can conduct a straighter line than I can.

Jim understands his public, sometimes even foregoing scrawling purple circles on worksheets to work with his audience. Earlier this month his mother asked him, "What did you make today?" And Jim said: "I made new friends!"

Now what would have been particularly awesome at this point would have been for Jim to produce from behind his back several cloth-covered wire monkeys, but he meant actual people, all of whom, both male and female, seem to be named "Jacob." I tell you this because clearly it is The Most Adorable Thing Ever Said By a Child, Ever, edging out even the pronouncement of Josh's three-year-old cousin, who approached him at our wedding reception and said, "Guess how much I like your wedding in numbers? One hundred."

You have been updated.

making sure the picture is not upside down at: mbe@drinktothelasses.com

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

"making sure the picture is not upside down..." has to be one of your funniest endings to date.

Hooray for children's art! My coworkers are getting tired of my decorated office space, but I will proudly continue to exhibit the work of my children's genius and I'm glad SOMEONE agrees with me!

Anonymous said...

A Jackson Pollock in the family :-)

SusannahS said...

Children's art is great. My friend's 5 yr. old daughter gave me a hand-drawn birthday card. On the front she had drawn the two of us as fairies and she wrote "I like you" inside. I almost cried. It's on my refrigerator too.

Anonymous said...

Are you sure it's not upside down? That yellow spot kind of looks like the sun to me. But it is modern abstract art, so I guess only the artist knows for sure...

Anonymous said...

We could use this as a modified Rorschach test. I kinda see a heart. :)

Anonymous said...

My niece drew me a picture when she was 4 and it's been hanging on my fridge ever since; she's 14 now and still one of my very favorite people in the entire world.

Sara N

Anonymous said...

Isn't it awesome when the kids mail your thier art. My fridge and stamp room are covered with creations from my nieces and nephews. (Can you imagine that thier parents don't want ever paper they make?) Congrats on the beginning of a wonderful collection.

I must admit that my niece has the patent on the cutest thing said by a 3 year old. It went something like this:

Aunt Kell:"Emily, can you say conservative?"
Emily: Serative
Aunt K: Can you say "Mommy, I want to wear a plaid skirt today."
Emily:(rolling her eyes and sighing)"Aunt Kelly, I am allergic to plaid!"

So much for Aunt Kell getting to pick out thier clothes. I have been trying to 6 years to get one of them in a conserative outfit and Emmy was my last hope but alas, she is allergic to plaid.

Anyhoo, congrats again on the masterpiece.

willow3x3 said...

"I made new friends."

-Probably the wisest thing ever said by a child. He is clearly a genius.

(I'm also wondering if it isn't upside-down. My mundane sensibilities want that yellow circle to be at the top. The sun must rise, after all.)

Anonymous said...

I think it needs to be turned clockwise 90 degrees. I see a sunset. The long blob on the right (if you rotated it first) is a tall tree with flowers on it, the blotch of blue is a lake in the distance, and the brown splotches on the sides are mountains. See? It makes perfect sense, you just lack the child-like imagination to see it, haha.

P.S. - I'm not calling you old.

Anonymous said...

I'm seeing a rising moon and fireworks!!

My nephew, who is also 3, tells me about cars and food on the phone... and his bowel movements! He has yet to send me a picture. I'm jealous!!

Anonymous said...

Add me to the "yes, it's upside down" crowd - I think the yellow spot is the sun, too, and it has evil eyes and a sinister grin.

My hubby thinks the rest looks like a mallard duck that has just been shotgunned and is plummeting earthward.

As a Rorschach test of sorts, it says some rather disturbing things about the two of us!

Anonymous said...

Ok, I'll join the test.

To me, it's a soccer player ready to kick the ball. See! the "sun" is a yellow ball, and the guy is in a very dinamic posture.

I remember when my sister performed a Roscharc test on me for her college class. I asked if a could give MULTIPLE answers on each card, and she said no problem. I think it took us 3 times as much time as any normal person. And after that my sister began to look at me with this really scared stare... mmm.

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