I have an almost two year old boy named Coleman and he teaches me something every.single.day. I’m amazed by how much he pays attention to, how well he learns and understands and how smart he is. Honestly. He walks right up and grabs my face with two hands if he has something important to tell me and I’m subconsciously being a “helicopter parent” (nodding my head and saying “uh-huh” or “yeah” when I’m completely distracted doing something else and not even listening) and he reminds me that this life I’m living, IS FOR LIVING and that includes being present as a mom. He always makes sure I know he’s there and I am so lucky he gives me those reminders.

So knowing all this, I recently have been struggling with trying to get back into my artist mindset since having little Oliver. It turns out, having two kids takes up quite a bit of time. Surprise, surprise. So overwhelmed and exhausted one day after laying both kids down for naps, I looked up at my living room to survey the mess and saw this still life scene on my window sill and knew it should be my next painting. I did a few sketches and this is the color study for the painting below – I actually decided to change a few things and do a much larger painting of the same thing, so to be continued.

You may ask what I learned from Coleman by seeing his toys strewn about, well I was reminded of the innocence and naivety of children. They are accepting and loving and include everyone, no matter what they may look like or smell like or dress like. It doesn’t matter how much money they have or what they eat – kids see everyone the same, just like Coleman didn’t care that these cars were all different shapes, sizes, colors and even styles – he played with them all equally. I want to be more like him – charitable and open-minded and I want to better cultivate my imagination just like a child because God created this world with beauty all around us and I want to see it more fully.