Painting and coloring are relaxing, creative, and effective in keeping children calm. However, there is much more behind the occupational aspect of art. This first post of a new series entitled My Art Journey features my painting and coloring experiences of the first ten years of my life. The series explains how I got into STEM and fashion blogging. Art and fashion are related to lifestyle. Both are also related to self-care and therefore can up your mood. Reading this series of posts you will learn about my art journey and experience. These examples help you to discover countless relations between art, fashion, and the science behind it. Furthermore, you can use them to become a better dresser and home decorator and relax with art. Let me inspire you to enhance your art journey. Recall what the famous Vincent van Gogh reportedly had said:
“When you hear a voice within you say ‘You cannot paint’ then my all means paint, and that voice will be silent.
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The Collision of Art and Science in Kindergarten
In West-Germany, kindergarten started at age 3. Groups were made according to the kids age. Thus, I entered in the age 3 group. One day the kindergartener had mounted a huge piece of left-over wallpaper (front side to the wall) at our height. We got crayons and were supposed to draw a street as a group work. We kids stood side-by-side at the wall and started.
Teamwork Is as Good as the Weakest on the Team
I had finished drawing a car. Therefore, I looked at what the other kids were painting. The kid next was drawing a twig to their tree. However, the twig was much thicker then the stem. Consequently, I picked the brown crayon to enlarge the stem. Unfortunately, doing so meant drawing over a part of the house of the second next kid. The kid started screaming at me, and started a physical fight.
My Coloring and Painting Caused to Skip a Grade
The kindergartener asked for the reason of our fight, and why I had “destroyed” the house painted by the other girl. Despite acknowledging my biologically-based reason, I was sent into the corner. Needless to say, my mother got an appointment with the kindergarten director. The next morning, my mom dropped me off into the 4-years class. Needless to say that the projects were more challenging and interesting. However, I had to keep my mouth shut to avoid getting into a physical fight with my new groupmates.
Art in Elementary School
Despite I had graduated from kindergarten a year earlier, I couldn’t enter 1st grade right away. So after a year of hanging around the house except for 3 month being in a sick children resort, I had my 1st day of school. Our homework assignment was to draw a house on our slate.
My house was in the middle of the black slate all in white. The Sun was a circle in the sky and there was a fence, tree and the house had a chimney with white smoke.
First Grade Was a Deja-Vu Art-Wise
The next day, the teacher came around the desks to control the homework. My neighbor whispered to me “Your house flies and your Sun falls off the sky.” I had no clue what she meant by these statements. Because my Mom had instilled in me that even whispering is a No-No I kept my mouth shut.
However, being curious I looked at her slate to get an idea. Her house was anchored at the bottom of the slate, the Sun was in the upper right corner as a quarter piece of a circle. The chimney was a square at a 90o angle to the roof. Despite my Mom’s warning I whispered “Your painting and coloring is wrong.” “It’s not. Yours is wrong. And you didn’t even use color. No house is all white and the Sun is yellow.” “My house isn’t all white. the painting is black-and-white.” I responded before being blamed by the teacher.
When the teacher saw my monochromatic painting she said “You didn’t paint that, right?” While that statement well indicated that my neighbor was wrong with all her statements, the teacher’s comment failed to convey that message to her. However, I felt hurt. My reaction was not to make things as perfect as I could further-on, especially, when it came to writing. Fortunately for me, she soon married and left after second grade. Still in the late 1960s, pregnant teachers left. She gave birth to twin girls.
Material Is Key for Painting and Coloring
Needless to say I was afraid of drawing assignments for two reasons. Because my Mom wanted to save, She never bought me color pencils for my slate. “The teacher hasn’t said you need them.”
In our village, art supply was very expensive, almost twice the price. Consequently, Mom bought the material in town when shopping for groceries on Saturdays. Consequently, I often had the required material not available at the next class. I needed to whisper to ask others to use their material. As a result, I got Cs in arts, domestic homework, participation in class, behavior in class, and paying attention. However, I still loved painting and coloring.
Relaxing with Coloring Books at my Grandparents
At my grandparents I spent the whole time coloring. They had more than 20 different color pencils. At home, I escaped in my dream world painting beautiful water castles and women in beautiful evening gowns on one-sided printed scratch paper.
Life is a painting, and you are the artist. You have on your palette all the colors in the spectrum – the same ones available to Michaelangelo and DaVinci. – Paul J. Meyer
© 2013-2024 Nicole Mölders | All rights reserved
Hi, Nicole – When I was five years old, I won the coloring contest that the Detroit Free Press sponsored. My Dad, who was an artist but went to work to raise his family, was very proud of me. In the summers as I grew up, I loved to draw the women that I saw in comic books. You draw realistically, with perfect likenesses and all the details. Thanks for sharing your early art experiences – Angie, http://www.yourtrueselfblog.com
Love this story. Can’t wait for its continuation.