Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Painting Objects with Parts

Towards the end of September we noticed a change in Smiley's painting.

Most of what he did and does for "painting" with colored paints was mixing colors in this dish of paints and in the bowl of water supposedly for cleaning his brush.  Making lines and curves on the paper not as interesting or engaging.  That much has not changed.

But previously he did not have any structure to his lines and curves, even if he named them (usually as escalators, train tracks, or roads).  Now he is painting objects made up of parts.


That purple item mystified us for a two weeks.  Smiley finally decided it was a flower.  Even if it was not originally anything in particular, it still demonstrates his slowly developing awareness that where on the paper he puts his lines and curves can be an important choice.

Yesterday he painted another mystery.


We know what this is: a map of Far Away Land.  He has been drawing these on his doodle pads, and now made one with paint.  The circle around the outside is the fence that separates Far Away Land from the rest of Eugene.

I am not yet sure if the placement of his other lines and curves has any intentionality. I have not had yet an appropriate time to sit with him and repeatedly ask, "Who else lives in Far Away Land?" and "Where is their home?".

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