Kids' Art

Kids do great art but by the time they turn 6 or so they begin to lose it, becoming more focused on making the image more precise, paying attention to the tools and making the images more recognizable to parents, relatives and friends so they'll all recognize what you've drawn and heap praise on you by doing so. So to get the reward, the pure childish pleasure of mushing paint and crayons around on paper gives way to identifiable objects and critters. At this point the child could develop either as a fine artist or a cartoonist, depending on the reward motivation. Both possibilities exist. The drawings shown here are right at that point where the child who wants to be an artist could go in either direction.

I love this drawing. See the door in the rainbow teepee? Great! And the setting sun, setting on this side of the mountain, burning a hole in the fence on the hill. And the Indians on the left and right... I can't imagine what's growing out of their chests.

Now here's a scary family, dressed in hand-me-down recycled crazy quilts purchased from an old clown outfitters store in Florida.

Here's the albino Barone family just back from their first trip to the beach. Left to right: Susan Barone, her sister Cheryl, their father Ed, who seems be pretty excited, his third daughter Eileen, and her mother Sarah, whose left leg is six inches shorter than her right and loves her new Mickey Mouse shoes.

The Molina Hawaiian Mariachi Family Band poses with their new plaid outfits as the All Pan American Riding Academy participates in a Civil War reenactment behind them.

Donut and pickle vendors dancing at the Annual DPV Association Picnic in San Francisco.