Curiosity, fear, intrigue, belief, wonder, fantasy? Any or all of the above could be present in my 11 month old grand daughter's face at her first encounter with the old gentleman himself. They also need to be present in all of us to create art. Its unfortunate that we often forget to use those same emotions and expression that we had as children. They serve us well as adults and especially well in the creative arts. You can see the baby explore this person's face with her eyes, absorbing every plane, shape and colour. Its something she has never seen before. Its the same way that an artist explores an object when drawing or painting it. You see it for the first time as you use your eyes and pencil or brush to replicate what is in front of you.
I hope the holidays find you healthy, happy and looking forward to a new year filled with wonder and art. And most of all, I wish that you can rediscover some of your childhood wonder and interest in the world and include it in your next creative challenge.
4 comments:
What a precious image Jeanette. I agree that it is fascinating to see the expression of babies when they encounter an image they had never seen before. One would love to enter their little minds to see what they are thinking.
I love seeing their faces and how they try to work out what is presented to them. Yes it would be wonderful to understand how they piece it together in their world.
i have a photo of my oldest son at that age and his first encounter with Santa Claus. That poor Santa had so many screaming kids on his lap before James arrived that he was surprised James just stared at him awestruck and fascinated like your granddaughter. i think kids that react like this tend to face the world with more wonder than fear and that's a good thing, IMO.
What a really lovely photo Jeanette - amplified by your wonderful post. So thoughtful as always.
Post a Comment