Painting
Friday, February 1, 2013 at 1:13AM I've been meaning to tell you about the final activity we did at the retreat last weekend, but I kept forgetting to get the activity out of the car.
We sat at round tables with other moms and daughters each session that we had, and we usually sat with the same people each time we met. One mom, her daughter, and a friend's daughter (that she had brought even though that daughter's mom could not come on the retreat) had to leave before this final activity, so Michaela and I were at the table with one mom and her daughter. The young woman who has joined the church staff to work with this age group (5th and 6th graders) (Bless her) also joined our table.
Along with the other remaining participants, we received our instructions; we were looking forward to this activity, as it involved a canvas and paint. As the theme was "True Beauty" we assumed that we would be painting something beautiful.
Then came the twist. Every so often, the speaker was going to call out,"Switch!" and we were to pass our canvases to the right. Then we would continue to paint as we wanted. This would go on until our canvases returned, and then we could finish them up.
This was such a wonderful activity. It was good for me, a control freak, and it was amazing to see how lovely and creative each person's unique addition to each painting was.
This is Michaela's finished canvas.
She started with the large flower, including the stem and the leaf. I was to her right, so I painted second. I added the ladybug, what I thought were blades of grass (someone else turned them into smaller flowers), and the sliver of a moon. As it went around the table, we saw the evolution of this daylight-overtaking-the-nighttime picture. Once we got home, she added the verse reference.
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4-5
Here is my picture.
I am not very creative when it comes to painting and drawing. I think it's fun, but I'm mostly a doodler. But what first came to my mind was a sun right in the middle. So I swirled a fiery ball onto my canvas, using mostly orange and a little bit of red. Then I started adding the blue at the bottom, like the ocean. Suddenly, the call came to switch! So I passed my picture to the right. When I had it in my hands again, I saw a beautiful sunrise.
Looking at the pictures is bringing tears to my eyes. Before anyone thinks I'm an inordinately sensitive touchy-feely goober, I want to say that I am confident that I am not so much of a feeler that I throw out the fact that thinking is important because it matters so much how we feeeeeeeel! I actually get annoyed by a lot of the junk that gets thrown around about feelings these days. Our minds are very important, as are our hearts...the two work together to help us understand and love God, our fellow humans, and ourselves. But I really appreciated the lesson that we were learning with this activity. We are all unique, we all bring something different to the picture, but isn't it lovely when we're done?
What we got to experience was a lot of fun, and from what I could gather, was a lot of I-wonder-what-I-can-do-to-make-a-lovely-addition-that-not-only-says-something-about-me-but-that-the-original-painter-will-appreciate. And I think that's a good lesson to learn.
Reader Comments (3)
What a fun idea! They came out great, and I love the addition of the scripture reference!
1) Love that activity. 2) The painting of Michaela's - what a gorgeous concept of day into night and the beauty woven throughout. 3). I've missed reading your posts. I'm sorry that I'm so behind, friend.
That is such a fun group project! Very creative. I love it.