Saturday, January 07, 2006

Inside the Lines




She's starting to get it; those scribbles in the coloring book are pictures she's supposed to color in. Before, it seemed, she thought coloring books were just scratch paper and someone had already started using a black crayon.

She doesn't fill in the pictures completely and only uses one color, but she attempts to stay in the lines. She does a pretty good job, too. Personally, I was happy when she started coloring only on paper. Granted, all paper sitting out is still fair game; including wrapping paper on presents, Daddy's half-finished SuDoku puzzles and especially anything that looks important. At least she stopped coloring on the coffee table, file cabinet and TV.

We are pleased she tries to stay inside the lines and will encourage her to continue to do so. Some people say that being taught to color inside the lines will stifle creativity later in life and even force you into the stereotyped identities imposed by society. I think she's just learning how to color a picture.

Anyway, we're just happy to see that she is still learning and growing. Maybe my sister, the art teacher, can post a comment about what this means as far as her artistic development.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Engineer or Artist?

i think artist...

At Hannah's age coloring in the lines is definitely a good thing! She is really pretty advanced for her age, artistically, because at this point in time coloring has nothing to do with creativity and everything to do with hand eye coordination.

If you notice in the picture, Hannah uses a series of sharp, circular lines to color in the Muppets... which is already the fourth stage in scribbling. She is past the stages of 1.bang-dot, 2. scratching, and 3.continuous line... This is pretty good seeing as most less-than-two-year-olds can barely apply enough pressure to the paper with a crayon to actually make a decent mark.

About using the same colors... She probably won't start to use more than a few colors, or use realistic colors for a few more years, but seeing as she is already doing so well it could be a matter of months!!! haha.. We’ll have to wait and see.

Maybe we will have the next Georgia O'Keeffe in our family...
http://artmuseum.arizona.edu/images/okeeffe2.jpeg

Till then keep coloring...

Love ya and miss ya!
Aunt Jul

Anonymous said...

Thad,

Cute pics and stories, keep 'em coming. Also, where is the post for the Steelers-Colts game? I thought for sure I'd see a Terrible Towel on the front page :) Good luck and keep the posts coming.

- Corey P.