Everything I Learned, I Learned in Kindergarten...and Then Re-learned as a Mom!

Art 101:  Remember the straight lines, perfect circles, complementary colors, light versus shadow?  I remember learning about perspective and what a neat concept that was, that as you got closer in the foreground of your picture, the trees, or roads got wider or taller.  There were so many things that made art attractive and "right".  As I've become a Mom, my perspective has changed.  I've re-learned what is beautiful art as my kids have developed their own talents.  When my four-year-old asks if I love her drawing of a horse, I honestly tell her it is the most beautiful horse I've ever seen, (now which end is the tail on?).  As my kids bring home their different holiday art projects, the once pristine blue and silver Christmas tree has transformed into a modge-podge of colors and shapes.  But is it any less beautiful?  Sure, walking around the Festival of Trees sends a longing for a perfectly trimmed tree in complementing colors and shapes, but as we turn on the lights that are hung loosely on only one side of our own pine-scented tree, the warmth and Spirit of the season flows just as strong.  And so, although the masterpieces hanging all over my fridge may not be Monet's, they might rival Picasso's; and even if I have to ask "Oh, it's upside down?", the mountain scene taped to the door rivals the real mountain scene outside my window.  As I continue to "learn" what art is, I'm grateful for the talents I can help nurture and develop in those future artists that seem to decorate every wall (and sometimes, it's literally the wall), with color and life.