Brilliant

Many people know I love "The Arts". I'm a photographer, sing all the day long, wish I would have had dance lessons, was originally a Music Theater major in college, play a little of 5 different instruments (yes, I'll stop soon) love to attend local plays, musicals, symphonies, and enjoy being behind a video camera and in front of one :).

Generally, I'm a pretty artsy gal - except for one thing. I CAN'T draw.
In fact anything involving creating something that actually looks like something else in any medium (ink, paint, crayons, play dough) I can't do. So I always stick to stick people and geometric patterns when diagramming things for my kids.

Perhaps my complete inability has made me appreciate those who really can draw. I remember once we had a friend over (we'll call him, T.) and Claire asked T. to draw a ballerina on a magnadoodle. I was completely blown away at the masterpiece he created in 35 seconds. I didn't let her erase it for a week, because it was truly amazing and literally took him no time and seemingly no effort.

I remember one time in Art class in 7th grade, we had the assignment of drawing our Art teacher, Mr. W.'s, truck. Now maybe I was enlightened that day because we got to go outside to draw, or perhaps it was the past 7 years of Mr. W's Art class really starting to kick in, or maybe the rusted out, red little truck truly struck a chord in my soul (I like red and all of my parents vehicles as a child had rust on them).
Well, for some reason that day I thought my version of Mr. W's truck looked almost recognizable. So I proudly walked over to Mr. W. and said, "Look what I drew today." He looked at the picture, looked back at me and said, "Jody, that's the only thing you've ever drawn."

Part of me was slightly offended that he hadn't appreciated my past 7 years of work, and the other part of me was utterly thankful that finally someone had been honest with me! I know I can't draw, but well-meaning people always tend to say things like, "That's not so bad, or Keep up the good work".
That day marked the beginning of the end for me. Mr. W's truck was the last thing I ever tried to draw. I decided to retire with my best.

Okay, so now comes why you needed to know all that:

My daughter, Claire, is a brilliant artist!

She's truly unbelievable in my eyes. Below is a picture she drew today on the back of her Phonics Test. Like, T., she did it in no time at all and didn't understand why I thought it so amazing. You might not either, so I'll explain. :)
(You might have to click on the picture to make it larger to fully get the gist of what I'm saying.)

Anyway the picture has the standard rainbow that every 6 year old girl must include in every picture, and the whimsical clouds above that.
But the mountain is truly remarkable. I asked her if she traced it -No. I asked if she was looking at a mountain on a book - No. I asked her how she knew how to draw it like that she said, "That's what a mountain looks like. "

So I realize I'm not an artist, and I may be slightly biased :) but I found her insight into perspective, shading, and realism to be far beyond her age. For those of you true artists out there, I'd love your feedback before I enroll her into the Art Institute of Chicago which is 4 hours away, but probably is the obligatory thing to do as the parent of a young art genius.