Of Monsters and Men (and other Creatures)
There are no better presents for a dad than drawings
It was my birthday yesterday. I’m never quite comfortable with the pressure of finding, giving and receiving presents. I don’t really want things, but I know I have to accept them. It’s important to the kids that they can make or buy things, wrap them, present them and get a reaction from me. One type of present I absolutely love though, are drawings.
They are perfect encapsulations of a moment in our family history and the current state of development of each child, they contain emotions, historic information and statements about relationships.
Here are the three drawings I got yesterday.
Riko (10)
Riko started drawing creatures the moment he could hold a pencil. Drawing creatures is his coping mechanism against over-stimulation. We have piles and piles of creatures at our home, but yesterday I was blown away again, as he presented me with this masterpiece.
I haven’t looked at every single detail yet, but my favourite feature so far is the look on the face of the monster that gets erased by another one, priceless.
Aria (12)
She has recently developed an interest in copying animals and has become quite good at it. Interestingly enough, I had a very similar phase at the same age. See how the swan is a lot more naturalistic while the other elements have a lot more of the naive style of drawing. I think it perfectly reflects this moment in time for her, the typical fluctuations of a pre-pubescent child between childhood and young adulthood, when the childish and naive start to be replaced by a more complex understanding of the world.
The drawing essentially mixes three styles, the naive childish two-dimensional style of drawing (clouds, sky, ground, little bird), a more realistic, three-dimensional drawing (the swan) as well as a more abstract, comic-like style for the sun (sharpie instead of pencil).
Lumi (3)
Lumi has drawn our family. It’s the first drawing of hers that has all of us in it I think. Even that cat is there (the heart-shaped figure), that she barely remembers. Aria makes sure nobody forgets to include him in family pictures.
