Mothers, Children, Flowers

Is there anything more wonderful than children's artwork? Recently I saw this drawing by Jared Kim, drawn when he was eight years old, and posted by his aunt, Jama Kim Rattigan, over at her blog, Alphabet Soup. I was reminded of how often I go to country fairs with juried art competitions & end up loving the Children's Art section more than all the rest. Just look at Jared's vase: I can easily imagine it on a table top in a painting by Matisse, can't you? The table would be next to a window, open to a view of Coullioure: blue sea, blue sky, sailboats. Or maybe Jared's vase would be on a table out in a garden, this time the scene is painted by Bonnard, there is lovely dappled light. Or maybe Sylvester's mother has this vase in her house, filled with flowers to celebrate Sylvester's return in Sylvester and the Magic Pebble? Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard, William Steig... Jared's work is in the same tradition.








Today is Mother's Day - but spring is coming late to Seattle this year, and the lilacs I usually give my mother haven't bloomed yet. I think a young boy's drawing of a vase with flowers is a perfect gift for her, so I'm going to print it up and take it to her. Thanks, Jared! And here is a poem about spring (I know it's May, but it feels like April), tulips, blackbirds, and a "green-sprayed bough."

In April by James Hearst


This I saw on an April day:
Warm rain spilt from a sun-lined cloud,
A sky-flung wave of gold at evening,
And a cock pheasant treading a dusty path
Shy and proud.


And this I found in an April field:
A new white calf in the sun at noon,
A flash of blue in a cool moss bank,
And tips of tulips promising flowers
To a blue-winged loon.


And this I tried to understand
As I scrubbed the rust from my brightening plow:
The movement of seed in furrowed earth,
And a blackbird whistling sweet and clear
From a green-sprayed bough.