“Life is a big canvas, throw all the paint you can at it”
Danny Kaye
She sat before me on the coffee table with an old box, the remnants of an online shopping expedition that left me regretful. “Mum can I make a house for my dolly?” and I replied “Of course, my lovely.” Quickly the glue was whipped out and the large dress making scissors were tinkering. The cupboard drawer full of all our leftover crayons and the texta’s (that hadn’t made their way under beds) were thrown in with abandonment.
Humming softly, she was lost in the sheer abandonment of making something from scratch. Producing something with colour. She was the boss, the architect, project manager and interior design expert.
Her colour of choice was bright peacock blue and she scribbled as hard as her little hands would let her, to fill the cardboard box with its beauty. “Mum, look what I made!” she said with deep satisfaction, then she wandered away and came back with her dolly, filled with smiles for the house she had created.
Most days my little creative begs me to watch a screen. She watches random videos of other people creating. Toys being unboxed and slime being squashed. The lesson I have been learning in motherhood, in this age of technology, is to find ways to help my children colour outside of the lines, through creativity, and to learn the satisfaction that comes from producing.
Our technology age is not all bad, in fact I am so inspired by the knowledge and social conscience it brings to our planet. However, it teaches us to consume, rather than produce. One of the greatest privilege of humanity is that we have the capacity to create. To bring colour, life and technology together to produce inspiration and hope.
When was the last time you saw your life as a canvas?
A place to produce, colour in and bring inspiration from your heart and hands.
As Danny Kaye said in the quote above “Life is a big canvas, throw all the paint you can at it,” and it begins with boredom. Rather than scrolling next time you are bored, what if you pulled out that draw of mismatched texta’s and crayons and explored what is in your heart out on a big piece of paper.
Or maybe even a left over piece of cardboard from that late at night shopping expedition online and smile at the potential of creating something colourFULL out of nothing.
Creatively
Amanda