This makes me smile. It was made by Miles, of course, a couple of months ago. My mommy heart just melts when I pull stuff like this out of his bookbag after preschool.

I’ve been collecting Miles’ artwork for awhile now and as I watch it start to really pile up, I figured photographing it would be a good way to document it for the long term. I have an idea about a print project for his room, but that’s still in the planning process. I’ll keep you posted on that project.

So one Sunday I was feeling energetic and I quickly photographed his art projects by laying them on a white canvas board near a window and standing on a chair from above. The pieces are from both preschool and stuff he has done at home with me. The one bad thing I didn’t do was date them! Opps! So I’m not sure how young he was with some of these. Lesson learned for the future.

There’s something about the art that children create that is so free and boundless that it’s really inspiring.

I put together a super quick slideshow of Miles’ work for him to enjoy, me to draw inspiration from when I’m feeling dried up creatively and just incase anybody needs some color in their day. I didn’t spend a lot of time “fixing” the images. I just wanted to capture them for Miles to remember and enjoy in a slideshow.

It’s a superfast slideshow, set to the first piece of music Miles could recognize the title and composer’s name. (It’s super cute to hear a 2 year old say Rimsky-Korsakov, btw!) As much as he enjoys painting, he’s a very auditory focused kid too. Much more than visually with the ability to mimic music, beats, words, sounds and recognizing what a piece of music’s name is or who the composer is. Having a kid so focused on sound has it’s own advantages and challenges, but that’s another blog post for another time.

Here’s his fast little show! I just watched it and the music woke me up. I might start playing it on repeat while I work. That would keep me moving!

Now, if only I can somehow find a way to help Miles hold on to that creative spirit that seems to fade as we age. As an adult, most of us seem to have to work pretty hard to push through the cloud of self doubt to just sit down and play with paint, pick up a camera, or write some music or words. What a wonderful gift kids give us to remind us that deep down, before all the extra mental and emotional blocks settled in, we were all artists that unapologetically created without worrying what anyone thought. Miles is creating all day long. He’s stacking discs of dental floss to make little buildings or some made-up object he’s created a new name for. He’s taking sticks and laying them out to make an un-assembled car. He’s grabbing string and making an imaginary kite. It’s just boundless creativity. Man, how incredible it must be to be three! The challenge, for me, is just finding that part of myself again that feels safe to create without boundaries. Hopefully if I can find ways to do that in my own work, I can model that type of confidence for Miles and hopefully he’ll see that as he grows. We will see. It sure is fun to watch him grow into his own little person and it’s so gratifying as a mother to nurture his artist in any way I can.

I know kid’s artwork is one of those things probably only a mother can love. (I can’t tell, since I’m the mom!) So thanks for looking and perhaps this will inspire you to find that inner three year old and see what you can create today.