I was going to go to bed. But, it turns out that I have something swirling in my head. It needs to be flushed out.the morning started off lovely. Once I got tired kids out the door, everything seemed to line up. We were going to be on time. The guy down the street with the motorized snow mower thingy saw us and continued to clear the walk at adjacent neighbors. Did I say we received eight inches over night? As we rounded the corner, we bump into Kate and her son armed with a snow shovel. She clears a path through the four foot mound of dirty removed snow opening up a clear walk into school.
I volunteer to administer spelling tests on Fridays. This is a quite enjoyable time as I have gotten to know each kids over the past two years. And today was most enjoyable as the lowest score was 14/16 with most receiving a perfect one hundred perception. They were so happy and jovial laughing at my sentences for faultier and abler. And, my explanation of why the mad hatter was madder then a barefoot kindergartener in the snow may sparked some interest in reading Alice and Wonderland. (madder was the spelling word.)
As I exit the school, I stop to talk about a book I passed on to my former art student and works in the front office. I can't believe she is going to be a mom soon! We banter over professors we had at CSU and mall over how hard abstract painting class was. I explained how it wasn't until a year after graduation, on my own, new job, new apartment in a new city and sitting in front of a new blank canvas that I learned I could actually paint things that weren't realistic, aka abstract.
Duh dah dum, on the walk home, inspired by the intellectual conversation about art that my brain is horrible starving for, a mantra pops in my head. I find it repeats over and over through out my afternoon. In my studio, I tackle a complex problem with a painting I wanted to toss into he trash just yesterday. Things just seem to fall into place as I listen to Katie Perry's new album. All through the grey afternoon as I fuss with my lighting of my ten by ten room and dream of the studio I will have in my next life, the mantra repeats.
It's Friday. We have no plans. Life is so much more relaxing with no plans. Son tackles new weavings on the Rainbow Loom by watching You Tube videos and Daughter plays mommy it her dolls explaining to me the characteristics of each and how well the sleep. She arranges them in the door way of my studio making sure they are cozy for their naps while I concentrate on painting straight lines. I move into other unconventional techniques on this stubborn painting and Daughter's humming becomes a questioning watchfulness. She is intrigued and sakes me what and why I am doing what I am doing. I reply,
"The best thing about learning the rules
is knowing how to break the rule."
She spoke her questions and quieted in her contemplation. Grabbing my drying pallet, she starts work on an old painting of messy swirls she had made when she was four. She claims that she likes to do whatever she wants and following rules is what she doesn't like about art in school.
"I just want to paint green whirligigs like this, " Daughter says as she shows me the green swirls on the red mess of paint.
"Yes, that is understandable," I reply. "That is what you should be doing, exploring. However, there will be a time when you need and want to learn the rules so that you can make you exploring extraordinary."
"The best thing about learning the rules
is knowing how to break the rule."
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