9/13/2007

more about crayon scribbles

It’s easy enough to slip into the faulty logic that if we haven’t gotten it all right then we’ve gotten it all wrong. The crayon-scribble metaphor helps me a lot. When a child creates a portrait of a parent, accuracy is not the point. The stirring thing is the impulse to symbolically depict a seeing/knowing event. The parent might not be universally recognizable in the child’s crayon scribbles but that diminishes neither the presence of the parent nor the perception of the child, nor the relationship between them.

Furthermore, the parent delights in these imperfect portraits and posts them proudly on the refrigerator.

4 comments:

Locust-Eater said...

Hmm.. Our faulty perception of the loved one is acceptable to the loved one - and becomes part of how they love us...

Anonymous said...

And, the drawing on the refrigerator ALWAYS brings a smile..........a precious commodity. Mom

Dan said...

I have my daughter's first painting. It's a few scribbled lines and random blotches where her hand lingered before she made her next movement with the brush.

And it's the most prominent, important artwork in the house.

Scott said...

All three of these comments sound like grace to me.