Here is what raw determination will get you in just one day.

This was the scene in my dining room today.  While The Girl napped, I painted for the first time since I found out I was pregnant with her, over three years ago.  This is the painting I had to stop working on, and it has hung in my kitchen, unfinished, for three years.

I hardly remembered what to do today, but then I remembered why I love it so much.  It was terrifying, clumsy, and exhilarating.

I’ll share progress soon.

This pretty paint box was about the highlight of my day.

Another sick day today.  This time it’s The Girl.  104 fever.  I hate the worry that comes with mothering.  Not knowing when to call the doctor and when to just let nature run its course.

So we painted today.  A lot.

Eiffel Tower, painted by me, November 2002

Dear France,

I love you.  I love your language, I love your chefs, I love your crepes, and I love your music.  I love your films,  I love your perfume, I love your painters, and I love your flowers.  I love your icon, I love your fashion, I love your croissants, and I love your wine.  I even love your smoking.

Someday I hope to come visit you, and speak your language fluently.  I would love to live in your capital one day, in an incredibly chic flat, perhaps in the 18e arrondissement.  Mostly I like saying arrondissement.  Although a little chateau in the south wouldn’t be too bad, either.  Perhaps for the summers.

Dear France, please wait for me, and know that while I live here in Florida, my heart yearns for only you.

Avec l’amour,

~Rose

Dear reader, The Daddy Monkey and I watched Coco avant Chanel this weekend, and it was breathtaking!  Even The Daddy liked it, believe it or not.  It made me fall in love with France, its romance, and its language all over again.  As if I needed another reason.  If you haven’t seen this glorious film, starring the radiant Audrey Tautou, please do add it to your queue.  I don’t think you shall be disappointed.

Every once in a while, I will be able to coax him into participation.  It’ll even be his idea on rare occasion.  “Let’s do art-ing,” he says.  It usually ends in frustration, because for him art is a full-contact sport, not an activity to be participated in quietly and calmly.  Usually these art-ing sessions end with him literally throwing paint around, my walls and floor becoming the latest canvases of his Jackson Pollack-esque dance.

I try so hard to stay in the moment.  To remember that for him, art is about the process, not the product.  I try not to instruct or lead him.  I try not to get upset when paint.  Gets.  Everywhere.

I was recently reminded of the artist Carl Larsson, by Alicia, who mentioned him at Posie Gets Cozy.  I was originally introduced to Larsson’s work by my very dear friend Peter, who is also the man who married The Daddy Monkey and I fourteen years ago.  Peter was from Denmark, and a very cosmopolitan man.  He was an older man, very stuck in his ways, and an incredible chef.  My first cooking encouragement came from him, as well as the recipe for his indulgent Cosmo’s Potatoes.  He died of lung cancer just before The Boy was born, and I miss him.

After being reminded of Larsson’s work, I visited (once again) the official website of Carl Larsson’s estate and his home Lilla Hyttnas, in Sundborn, Sweden.  Thank goodness I know someone who lives in Sweden so I can go there someday!  There on the homepage, was a photo of beautiful little Swedish children at their easels, painting en plein air.  And then it occurred to me like a flash of lightning.  If I want The Boy to make art, I have to show him how important it is to make art.  Of course he doesn’t do it because I never do it around him.  For me, art is a solitary affair.  So I decided to meet him halfway.  Spring is in the air, so let’s take it outside.

I taped unlined index cards all over our little easel, set up watercolors on the table, and he went for it!

The Girl even got in on the action.

Here’s my favorite one.  We all painted a little bit on it, and I love it.  This one is going into a frame.

This was so much fun, I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner.  It was so nice and warm outside, it was a glorious day.  I was relaxed because I had no fear of paint going everywhere.  I didn’t have to clean it up right away, so the kids went back and forth between playing and painting.  We painted standing up, we painted sitting, we painted standing still, and we painted moving.  They each took a turn in my lap, and it all worked.  Everyone was covered in paint when we were done, but I’m okay with that.  It was worth it.

It was so much for for everyone, and it gave me the chance to be the mother I want to be: happy, engaging, encouraging, relaxed and loving.