painting with lila

I had the great pleasure of partaking in a 2-hour painting session with my angelic little niece Lila this past weekend. It's interesting how much I feel like I have in common with Lila, also born under the sign of Cancer, though she is just barely 3 years old. But, I really do!

I had a suspicion my fellow Cancer might enjoy painting, and I was right! We ended up collaborating on one piece, which her mother (my sister-in-law) put the final touches on. I had an old canvas that I had painted a base layer on long ago for a painting I never finished, and later had used as a practice board for my paint pens….so this became the base for our collaborative painting. Lila also produced her first solo canvas painting, something I suspect she will look back on fondly someday (you know, when she's a flourishing artist;). 

I must say, painting with a 3-year old while talking about all the things in the world that we find "pretty" for 2 hours really infused my own art practice with some new energy. It was also quite a powerful experience to watch my sister pick up a paintbrush for the first time since she was a teenager. As she put it, she had goosebumps all over her as she felt the brush hit the canvas. Watching the smiles on both her and her daughter's faces proved to me once again that art heals.

{I apologize for the blurry, not-so-great photos. We were painting at night, in a very dark room}

Lila's solo piece:

I knew Lila was hooked on art when I awoke the next morning to find her lurking outside my bedroom door. The minute she saw me her face lit up and she exclaimed "I want to paint!" So….we had a quick morning watercolor session over breakfast. How precious is she twirling her hair in her fingers?