About two decades ago, my first born, Emily, was just a small child, maybe a couple of years old. She and I would sit and draw and laugh. Sometimes we would draw people with big round eyes and button noses or maybe monsters with jagged teeth and square mouths. Sometimes Emily would sit alone with crayon in hand and draw by herself. She would then present to me the colorful lines and shapes that meant something to her in her eyes. Often, I would look at the drawing wondering just exactly what it was that she had drawn and say something like, "That is really good" or maybe, "I like that".I told M.D. Whitfield, a good friend of mine from church whose wife and daughter are both artists how Emily liked to draw. He gave me some great advice. Basically, he told me the following: When she draws something and you don't know what it is, never say, "What is it?". Always look at the drawing and nod your head and say, "Tell me about it".
I took Whit's advice and it was so wonderful to have a child sit and tell you what their mind thought as they drew a picture. Often when you are told, if your eyes and imagination are good enough, you too might even see what it is that they are describing and really mean it when you say, "Wow. I like that".
A few years later when Emily was in Kindergarten, her teacher looked at one of her drawings and said, "Emily, that is so good. You might be an artist". Emily looked at the teacher and replied, "I already am one".
