.....and Through it All, He Did it His Way.......

As we've mentioned in previous posts, Elijah is quite an artist. His teachers often praise his ability to draw and his fine motor skills. When he is coloring one of his beloved butterfly outlines he is meticulous to make sure nothing is outside the lines and each color combination is either new or has a meaning. (He used red, blue and yellow to represent Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum from Alice in Wonderland).

This is an example of Elijah's work when he had free time at school. His "Shapes" has become one of his favorites, being dragged from room to room in our house.

His fascination with street signs is evident through our home, but this group includes, on the bottom right hand sign, a "no parking" attachment done freehand that I couldn't recreate even with a stencil.

But unfortunately along with his artistic ability comes an artistic temperament. Like any great artist, Elijah wants to create, not be TOLD what to draw. At a recent parent-teacher conference we were shown a variety of projects Elijah had done in school. Below is a sample of an art project he had no interest in, coloring in pumpkins. (There were a couple of these "efforts" shared with us.)

I'd much rather have this response from our little artist when things don't go right than taking a knife to his ear!