A few days ago I was in my son Timothy’s room, putting away some clean laundry, when I saw a smudge on his wall. My first thought was, “Oh no, not again,” but when I looked closer and realized it was just a shadow, I sighed with relief. You see, our Timothy is known for being a bit of a Picasso, with an artistic flair that makes me proud and nervous at the same time.
When Timothy was in kindergarten, he decided to draw on his desk…with a permanent marker. You can guess how that turned out. A few months later, his muse told him to finger paint on his bedroom walls, and so he did…with a bottle of ketchup. You might say we caught him “red-handed.” At first glance it looked like a scene from The Shining. It took a lot of elbow grease and several Magic Erasers to fix that art project! At that time, I decided no new carpet on the floor or paint on the walls of his room until he moves out for college. Better safe than sorry.
At school this past year, Timothy was voted “Most Artistic” in his class. I guess those ketchup stains were good for something after all. He’s also won his share of coloring contests – the kid can work a crayon like nobody else. I’m glad he enjoys art so much. It’s a good way to balance out his love for video games.
Thinking about Timothy’s art career reminds me of another young artist who spent his summer looking for work around the neighborhood. He knocked on the door of my car-collecting neighbors’ house, asking if they had any painting jobs he could do in exchange for some spending money.
“Sure,” the husband said. “How about you paint our porch? I’ll give you ten bucks. There’s paint in the garage.” The kid eagerly agreed and said he’d get right to work.
When the man returned to the living room, his wife raised her eyebrows. “Ten dollars?” she said. “Does that kid know the porch goes all the way around the house?”
“He must,” the husband said. “We were standing right on it!”
About an hour later, the kid knocked on the door. “I’m all finished,” he said.
The husband looked surprised. “You painted the whole porch already?”
“Yeah,” replied the kid. “I even had some paint left, so I put on two coats!”
“Wow,” the husband said, reaching into his wallet to pay the kid.
“Oh, and by the way,” the kid said. “That’s not a porch, it’s a Ferrari.”
Whether it’s a freshly painted “porch” or a bottle of ketchup, art can sure surprise you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to head to the kitchen and hide the mustard and mayo.
