How about my letters on some flowers...

How about my letters on some flowers...

This one is one of my own personal favorites so far. I loved the idea he had to put his letters on flowers. We happened to have a tall glass vase of gladiolas on the kitchen table, which is probably why he had the idea in the first place. With the vase in front of me, I repeated to myself what my 8th grade art teacher taught me. "Draw what you see, not what you think you see," he would repeat. On the rare occasions that I find myself drawing something from sight, I repeat that phrase over and over to remind myself of this simple yet critical lesson in drawing.

Victor and I weren't sure what type of flowers to draw. We brainstormed lots of ideas, but none seemed easy enough to do quickly. I wasn't confident that the gladiolas would look nice either. So I just made up these spiky daisy looking things. I like the way the letters feel hidden in the flower bulbs. I was pleased with myself again today, feeling that my 8th grade art skills were surfacing in a good way over 20 years after my art class.

He looked at it and felt it was missing something, so he grabbed the Sharpie. Although I should have been encouraging, I felt a strong impulse to snatch it back. "You're going to ruin it!" I thought to tell him. But I bit my tongue. For some reason he felt that it should be surrounded by a bowl. There it is drawn around the vase. I'm glad he felt confident enough to add to the picture, but in all honesty, I do feel like he took away from a drawing I was proud of. I have a feeling I'm going to discourage him contributing in the future. I'm a terrible father aren't I?