Once while showing my art at an outdoor festival, a woman commented,”You must have such talented children to create this artwork.” When she realized that the adult me created it she was embarrassed and  apologized. “ I’m sorry I didn’t mean to insult you” she said. “No” I replied, “Far from it. You just paid me a great compliment”  

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I have a theory.  A child’s imagination is free from all the adult constraint we place on it.  Up until about the age of ten or eleven years old everything is possible to a child.  Elephants can fly, rabbits can talk, and monsters good and bad live under the bed.  The entertainment business has made fortunes off a child’s imagination.

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When a child creates art, they do it without constraints. We praise everything they do and hang it on the refrigerator door. They are free to imagine whatever without critics.

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Then puberty kicks in. They become self conscience.  Now they have to color between the lines. Become an adult.   Elephants can no longer fly and rabbits can’t’ talk. They lose some of their creative freedom.   

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Some call it the inner child we have suppressed inside us as adult.

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It is this child’s,” freedom to imagine whatever,” that I am striving for in all the art I do. 

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“ Be brave,” I tell myself.   Dare to imagine.  What if……..

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Maybe the monsters under the bed will bring cupcakes…..