A Collaboration with my Toddler
"A Mother's Embrace"
by Theodore & Ruth Oosterman
Last month I asked all of you what you could see in my one-year-old Theodore's painting and then I challenged you to bring your vision to life. I will be posting the amazing collaborations I received to Facebook this evening and have loved reading all of your ideas in the comments.
I am so fascinated with the idea of people all around the world collaborating using a piece painted by the same child, it just shows the beauty and uniqueness found in all of our imaginations.
The minute Theodore finished his painting I couldn't see anything but a little boy looking up with a hat shoved over his eyes. I felt drawn to this little boy and soon I envisioned myself wrapping my arms around an older Eve and Theodore to keep them warm on a cold day.
Collaborating with anyone is a very delicate process as it is very easy to overdo your portion and take away from your cocreator's. Although I could see more details, originally wanting them to be in a busy city filled with people walking by, I realised less is more. Theo's brush lines are so lovely and speak for themselves so I kept the background very light with a snowy sledding hill in the distance covered in pine trees. All of his sweeping paint strokes made it seem as if the wind was playing with their coats pulling at them to go play but their mother kept them warm from the biting cold.
WHAT DID YOU SEE?
