Serafin's Tree

The tree in her old room.

Since we moved out of our Oakland home, Ms. Serafin has been wanting a tree painted in her room. That's my girl, a tree-hugger, just like her ma.  In her old room, before she was born, we payed an art student to draw a tree mural on her wall, there were also clouds and birds, it was pretty awesome.    

My mission has been to make her room here fun and playful as well.  She has mentioned the tree on several occasions, so today I decided to give it a go, or, shall I say, give it a "grow".  Ha ha (laughs stupidly at own lame jokes).

It was a random and spur of the moment thing, this tree drawing business.  Perhaps it was part of a desperate attempt to herd the kids into Serafin's room and do something interesting.  Really, I don't know what possessed me, it was kind of a circus act.  Since Gary was out today, it was just me and the kiddos; once I got painting, every two minutes I had to pull Silas out of the way before he got paint all over his hands (then the rug, then everywhere else).  Still, I persevered.

Here's me getting ready to sketch (photo by Ms. Serafin), pencil and eraser in hand!

Now, when it comes to real-life drawing, I am no "Artist" (said with a french accent).  In fact, I hated drawing class when I was younger because whatever I tried to draw never came out how I pictured.  I used to get so frustrated.  As an adult, I can see that I should have had an open mind and consider all my jagged and squiggly lines Picassos (or perhaps that's what I will tell my kids if they ever have the same issues with art class that I did).  I grew up with such great artists in my family, my brother majored in art, my Dad was also very good and his mom, my grandma was actually famous in Greece for her painting.  Unfortunately it was just never my thing.  Today, however, I decided to make it my thing!

Originally, I had tried hard to get Serafin to agree to have somebody else to paint her tree.  But no, she wanted a tree drawn by her mama's hands, I suppose it serves me right for all our tree-hugging adventures.  So without really thinking about it, I faced my fear and got a pencil.  Before I knew it, I had paint, a ladder, sponges and I just went at it.  I even managed to do a little shading, ho ho!

 In retrospect, I think I got a little carried away with the foliage, yes, that is one bushy tree!  But who cares.  I like the colors, and what's more important is the kiddo think it's pretty (phew).  There was one moment there when she asked me why I was dabbing orange on the tree, with her inquisitive, unsure voice.  Really, I didn't know why I did that, I guess in my head it was fall time.  I bit my lip trying to think of an answer and then a moment later she asked me if they were oranges.  Yes!  They are oranges I thought but didn't say anything, just kind of looked at her and went, "ummmmm. . . ".  I was waiting for her next comment to be "But Mama!  I DON'T WANT ORANGES!"  Instead, she smiled and said "I want apples!"  So I pulled out the red paint and got at it!  Thank goodness for that!