When we moved to this wonderful country, we were delighted that the local preschool employed a creative attitude. But nearly two years later, when I need to start planning/rationalising/streamlining for our next move, we have an entire wardrobe full of "creative attitude". And it doesn't help that, at said preschool, they refer to every piece as an "artwork". Talk about guilt trip.
Regarding this week's p52 theme, Made with love, I'm not under the illusion that my daughter made all these artworks out of love for me, for her teacher, or indeed for for anyone. But boy does she have a passion for making them! So (without wanting to sound like too much of a luvvy) I guess they're made with love for the creative process dah-ling (air kiss, air kiss).
Throwing any of them away feels like a betrayal that's almost certain to crop up on the therapist's couch in twenty years time. But I can't keep it all... can I?
Can I? (remember, chest pain...)
No don't tempt me, I'm resolute: I can't keep it all. Trouble is, I went to art school for a while here too, and I haven't even started on my boxes full of drawing exercises. January is going to be a loooong month.
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| Samsung nx10, ISO1600, f22, 1/60s. Cropped in Photoshop, contrast adjusted using s-curve, 50% smart sharpen. I forgot that I'd last used my camera on ISO1600 and not turning that down was a mistake I think. |
i hope this solution will work for you, as it has for me, being a mother of five artist too. take photos of the work. then toss guilt free. all that lovelyness on one dvd. just think. :)
ReplyDeletep.s. thank you for the kind words, i should have made more clear the camera i found is really a fantastic one, with a perfect 50mm fixed lens. so lucky!
Took me over a year after *graduating* my youngest to go through all our homeschool papers, so I have no answers (and yes, I did keep some things). I sure love that abstract though!
ReplyDeleteYes yes- you can't keep them all. At least not like that! You can take pictures of them and make a book to flip though. That is what we have done and are doing. It has been great. I love the angle you chose and the way it presents. LOvely!
ReplyDeleteWhao..so much difference to the picture after you "worked" on it.. I'm so tempted to take a photoshop course too..but that will be after I reach my goal of saving enough for a DSLR.
ReplyDeleteGosh I couldn't call it "work" Dominique, it's just a few very crude clicks, very silly but a fun effect! But I am working quite hard at this online photoshop course and it's really interesting. I'd struggled for months to try and figure out the package just using a manual, but it's not intuitive at all and I really needed more hands on lessons.
DeleteI love the way you chose to photograph this subject, such an unusual approach. Great photo too :)
ReplyDeleteYou can't keep all of them no, but you can take pictures of them all and store them digitally (you'll probably look at them more often that way too!) - but do save some, the most meaningful/best ones, you need to have some of the work that little hands worked on so diligently!
Second this.
Deleteso cool!
ReplyDeleteGreat photo! And yes, I understand the feeling of betrayal when throwing out a child's art project!! But as expats in a small English townhome, I have to do it too! I have heard of people taking photos of each "piece" and then putting them into an album or one of those digital frames to play a slideshow of them. Good luck with your move - where are you going next?
ReplyDeleteThanks Great Scott! Our next move is home to our own very small Scottish townhouse. I'd love to do all this photographic archiving and then chuck the crusty papers straight in the recycling... but it would take WEEKS!!! I think I'll have to make that a rule from this point on though, because if one thing's for sure, there's going to be more!
Deletecute idea!
ReplyDeleteGreat shot. This is a really interesting photo! Though I don't have a collection of art from my kids yet (they are 20 mo and 4 mo) I can see stockpiles in my future!
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice picture! I haven't figured out photoshop yet (I need to take a course). I know I too will have a hard time getting rid of my little one's artwork once he starts to figure out crayons, paint, etc. are not just for eating :)
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI love your interpretation of this week's theme. {HUGS} to you in this long, long month of letting go...
That's an awesome photo and idea!!! I just adore it!!! Yes it is a seascape, i never would have seen that. You have a true artist's eye. Amazing!!!
ReplyDeleteI still have ALL the art work from my two boys (7&13)and the pile is still growing. I can't bear to part with it either. In their room I have a clothesline like setup along the wall where I hang their pictures with clothespins. It's kinda a fun casual look and you can easily rotate through the collection.
Wow...I really love this idea! It came out great...
ReplyDeleteI sure hate letting go of things. My heart goes out to you...
Hope you have a blessed day♥
Great picture!!! I love the composition & interpretation of this week's theme. Just a little fyi: if you don't throw anything away, you'll have to move out because your stuff will TAKE OVER!!! Ahhhhh!!!
ReplyDeleteLOVE, LOVE, LOVE :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I hope it doesn't stop the purging process to tell you this one should be considered for framing! ;)
ReplyDeleteSuch a cool picture!! Great use of the theme, too. I like to play around in Photoshop but I rarely remember how to do specific things with it, lol.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful creation & I totally understand that feeling. I have 3 kids- they do crafts after school every day. So every day I have 3 new "gifts" from them. I say thank you & tuck them away. Every few months I sort out my favorites & the rest get tossed. I have a few boxes that hold the favs & I have to remember that as an adult- I think it's ridiculous that my mom still keeps my creations. So I hope my kids will see it the same way & not hold it against me.
ReplyDeleteOh my - I just love that hebridean image! I just don't play around with photo editing at all - very basic straighten and crop here. I am inspired. J just does not do craft. Occassionally he will bring something home from Croileagan, but it is so rare, we still have space on the pinboard xxx
ReplyDeletethat's a beautiful work of art to me! I know what you mean, my mum can't bear to throw away all the works I made as a kid too, even when I am really quite embarassed by them now. I would say, just do it if you have to! I'm sure they won't hate you for that, I know I threw out quite a few of my old stuff myself!
ReplyDeleteThat is an amazing stack of art and I love the photoshopped image.
ReplyDeleteMy son doesn't really like to draw or color or any of that, so I haven't had to figure out what to keep and what to purge. I think I have one page of scribbles from him and that's i. I keep hoping that eventually he'll want to do some of that so I can have some artwork from him.
chanced upon your site and caught by your beautiful work:). good job! i must learn how to do this.
ReplyDelete(Having trouble leaving a comment! The 'post a comment' line is visible for a second then disappears for some reason so I'm trying by hitting the reply button under one of the other comments) My husband is all for keeping absolutely all of our daughter's artwork but I determined from the start that I needed to be ruthless else we'd be over-run. Her output is prodigious! Instead, we keep the exceptional ones, those that bring a smile to our face, date them, then stash them away. Even so, the pile is growing very tall.....!
DeleteSorry about that Bishty and thanks for letting me know... don't know if it's a problem at my end or yours, but I'll try and check a few things. Seems to be okay for me right at the minute. I used to have similar problems on my pc, but I don't experience it on my mac
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, I know how you feel! Getting rid of my kids' artwork is so difficult to do and I have 4! lol
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to stop by and tell you that we announced our winter photography challenge today. I really enjoyed your work during the Shades of Autumn Photo Challenge and would love for you to join us again!
I seriously love your photo! And your transformation of it is so interesting.
ReplyDeleteI too have the same problem of our house overflowing with "masterpieces."
Love your photo, and I love the artistic rendition below it!
ReplyDeleteWow - I love the idea of photographing them and making a wee album. Thanks to everyone who suggested that. Hmmm, going to have to do that.
ReplyDeleteThat "hebridean" shot really does look like an amazing painting.
Once I have paid for this camera (borrowed money from other budgets), I'll have to start saving for Photoshop. Looks like fun. :-)
Lou. x
I like the suggestion of photographing the items. That way, you can get rid of them and still have them.
ReplyDeleteWhat a genius way to preserve the special creative gifts shared by your Little.
ReplyDeleteHappy day!
Oh, goodness -- those Hebridean paintings are beautiful! Thanks for that introduction!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm sorry for your dilemma. I'm a pack-rat, so I will never tell you to throw anything out! :/
I made scrapbooks of my kids' preK work -- tossing out the worksheets but saving whatever creative bits they did themselves or that they very much loved. Now they like to look their their books and we have a useful and attractive keepsake, instead of what we had before -- giant stacks of papers. Although if my stacks looked as cool as yours, I would be tempted to keep them. I also found it helped to assess papers immediately when they came home -- toss or keep. You still end up with too much stuff, but it's easier to sort through at the end of term. =) (PS Here via Happy Homemaker UK)
ReplyDeleteI love what you did with that photo. I have bookmarked the Photoshop course for that 'one day'. Thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeleteI think others have said this, but I scan my favorite artwork that comes home (and then toss, shhhh), which I put into an album later. And my daughter has 3 frames in her room which we will rotate her favorite artwork in. It is quite a dilemma for budding artists, isn't it?
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