Change :: Art + Hair

We have hit an emotional wall in terms of our mother & son daily art journaling.  You see, I was tired of asking my son if he had done his drawing for the day and he was real tired of me asking.  Let me give you a bit more background.

Last November, Steve took Grady to see David Hockney: A Bigger Exhibition at the de Young Museum in San Francisco and he was floored by it.  I had gone to the show a few weeks prior and just knew both of my guys would love it.  Grady was particularly interested in Hockney's iPad drawings and his favorite pieces were the large trees in the Yosemite series.  Hockney used the Brushes app and then printed those "drawings" out on a massive printer and they stood 12 feet tall.

Word of the day :: ALARM
Grady's interpretation left & mine on the right

Fast forward to New Year's Day and a very smart young man trying to work his mother into letting him use his new iPad every day.  His angle?  He wanted to make a New Year's resolution to do a drawing every day on his iPad, using the Brushes application, just like Hockney, Mom.

Truth be told, I was less than thrilled about this change of routine, as we had previously been drawing in the wee morning hours with pencils and/or watercolors on paper.  Our experiments were low key and the time spent with him was really enjoyable for me.  We talked over breakfast and my morning coffee.  He was keeping a semi-daily journal and I was playing around infrequently with watercolors. There were no rules or expectations.

I thought committing to a year-long project might be fun for us, but I worried about the follow through of a project that would (or should) last 365 days.  That's a lot for a kid.  Heck, that's a lot for me.

Word of the day :: BED
Grady's (left) + Mine (right0

Now, I knew he was working me on the increased iPad usage, but after seeing how excited he was about the Hockney creations I decided to give in a little and said yes.  My only parameter was that it had to be every day and that his father's only request was to learn to use Dropbox to save his drawings in an organized fashion.  Our thinking was that he could stretch his creative mind and learn to utilize technology beyond playing games on his iPad.  It felt like it would be a good tool and that appealed to all of us.

Word of the day :: CIRCLE
Grady's (top) + Mine (below)
For the record :: I didn't know what circle jerk meant until after I drew this!

It became clear pretty quickly that he was just doing a drawing as fast as he could (30 seconds to a minute or two) and just hurrying through the process.  He stopped drawing and painting on paper or canvas.  His art studio was primarily used to store his Lego collection and he would escape out there to listen to books on tape.  No art was happening out there.  None.

My husband encouraged me to let him ride it out and assured me that his use of the iPad was a good exercise.  I wasn't so sure.  I felt like he was taking the easy way out and it slowly became clear to me that he was starting to resent the question I posed to him almost daily - Have you completed your drawing yet?  Most days, the answer was a sheepish no.

Word of the day :: DARK
Grady's (left) + Mine (right)

Last weekend he broke down in tears and shared with me that he hates drawing on the iPad.  He was four days behind in his drawings and he did not want to continue with the iPad drawing project.

What?  My patience paid off?  He didn't want to draw on the iPad?  Hallelujah!  That only took six and a half months...

He said he missed drawing with me in the mornings and that it just wasn't as fun on the iPad.  He was back.  I was beaming.  I was more than ready to begin something new and I just so happen to love a new plan or project.

I quickly ushered him into the kitchen and we pulled out our art journals and talked it over.  I knew we both had to be into this or it wouldn't work.

Word of the day :: EASY
Grady's (left) + Mine (right)

Ultimately, we decided on picking a word out of his trusty pocket-sized thesaurus and each of us would interpret it on paper.  The only catch was that we had to agree on the word and we would start with the letter A and work out way through the alphabet.

I know he could tire of this new routine, too, but I think we both enjoy the morning chats and collaboration.  I think he feels seen by me and I know I'm really listening to him during this quiet, focused time together.  

It's my favorite part of the day and I've really missed it.  I think he has, too.

Grady, 11-1/4 years old
BEFORE + AFTER

He's morphing and changing so rapidly.  His art, his clothing stylings, and his hair!  He's been asking for weeks to get his hair cut and I was a bit sad to see his long, golden locks go.  He can't stop looking at himself.  It feels like he shed a bit of the old Grady and is ready for all the new that is about to happen.  I'm so glad he's been asking for what he wants.  He's finding his voice and gaining confidence, too.

We're headed to Alaska in a few weeks and in August he is moving to a brand new school to start the sixth grade.  

He's navigating all of this change with a lot of maturity and I guess I'm going to have to follow his lead.

Change is good, right?  Right...