Art History

I won my first art contest when I was in Junior High. The contest was called "Healthy Food/Healthy Heart". I had a great idea and with an artist mom I had any help I needed to execute my idea. My felt, google eyed heart flexing his muscles looked healthy and the surrounding vegetables and fruits clearly indicated the connection of our diet and health.

One afternoon my mom had been supervising me as I carefully practiced sketching out each veggie before redrawing it on the school provided poster board. After she was confident I was creating a masterpiece she laid down on the couch for a nap.

I was pleased with my work but there was something missing. Hmmmmm....green beans! I loved green beans and clearly they were essential to healthy living. I wanted to run this by my art mentor but her heavy breathing warned me she was sleeping. Waking my mother from sleep was not something you risked. As I had been taught I practiced sketching a pile of beans and then carefully transferred and colored it onto the poster.

When my mom awoke I proudly announced my addition. I will never forget the look on her face. She was horrified, sure I had ruin my perfect poster. My mom never did my work for me but she knew how hyper I could be. How I could have a flash of an idea and try to create it without thinking it through. Then cry with sickening regret at my ruined masterpiece. She practically ran from the living room into the dining room where I worked. And then relief flooded her expression when she saw the perfectly drawn, perfectly placed green beans.

I often think on that lesson when I am too wound up in an idea to take a few minutes to prepare it properly. To walk through it on paper before I swipe paint on a canvas. I know I always benefit from a deep breath and a little planning.

I am sure I didn't want to sketch those beans first but in doing so I was able to take my idea from a mental image to a literal image. A few weeks later I was posing for our local newspaper holding my blue ribbon and my smiling heart.