Work in Progress

    When Levi first joined our family, at the age of four, he was obsessed with the story of the Gingerbread Man.  "Run, run, as fast as you can; you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!"  Levi was determined to learn how to draw one.  I spent hours with him, instructing him in the finer details of gingerbread men.  He practiced over and over, until he was finally able to draw a passable gingerbread man without any coaching from me.  For more than a year, he drew countless gingerbread characters, of endless varieties, sizes, and colors; painstakingly, he cut each one out.  He constructed gingerbread men out of playdough.  We baked and frosted gingerbread cookies.  For a while, our house was littered with faux gingerbread figures.  Now, four years later, I'll bet I could still find some if I looked carefully in the right places.

Eventually, Levi moved on to bigger and better subjects--robots, ninjas, science fiction characters.  Drawing was not easy for him at first, because he struggles with many fine motor skills.  Still, he worked hard and, gradually, his drawing skills improved.  He has branched out to other media, as well;  Levi has become an expert at constructing creative and functional paper airplanes.  He uses paper to make 3-D buildings and rockets, and people or other characters to inhabit his creations.  When we take a trip, Levi is content to take along his Nintendo DS, a book to read, and plenty of paper, a pencil, and a pair of scissors.  That's all he needs.  

When Levi began taking classes from a local artist, she introduced him to his favorite medium;  Levi loves to work with oil pastels.  Years ago, when I was taking art classes to aid in my teaching, I purchased a set of oil pastels.  I enjoyed using them, but I didn't have much time to use them outside of class.  Each of the girls experimented with them in turn, over the years, but the set was still mostly intact when I turned it over to Levi last year.  Now, the greasy, chalk-like sticks have been reduced to mere nubs, and I am contemplating buying Levi a brand new set for Christmas.

I watched Levi finish an abstract picture today when I picked him up from art class.  He uses the oil pastels quickly and effortlessly now.  In almost no time, his paper is filled with magical colors.  And, coincidentally, his hands, shirt, and sometimes even his face, are smudged with streaks of vibrant color, too.  I'm careful where I take him after art class, because he really gets into his work--and his work remains in evidence all over him!  Oil pastels come off only after a fair amount of scrubbing.

When I think back to those early days, right after Levi joined our family, I realize just how far he has come in the past five years.  Just as he has practiced to become a skillful artist, Levi has also worked very hard to improve social skills.  Bill and I, as his parents, have worked just as hard, and sometimes even harder, to nurture him and guide him as he grows.  Levi isn't done learning yet--and neither are we, his parents.  But, just as we can see how much his artistic ability has improved with lots of practice, we can also see glimpses of the amazing young man he will become, with God's help.

All oil pastels pictured in this blog are Levi's original artwork.  Levi's photograph (at the top) was in the Gering Courier this past week, along with an article about the art studio where he has taken lessons for the past two or three years.  To read the article, go to http://www.starherald.com/gering/news/local_news/for-the-love-of-art/article_d90e6844-35c0-11e2-ada6-0019bb2963f4.html