Painted Dreams!

Abhay loves to draw and color but the colors he applies to his pictures don’t necessarily correspond to their natural colors. For instance, leaves are colored yellow, flowers are brown or clouds are painted orange! When asked to explain the orange clouds, his reply was “The clouds look orange during sunset!” Okay….I had to grant him this one, but after all I was his mom …wasn’t I? I persisted and questioned him about the brown flowers to which his response was simply “I like them brown’! In his art class too, I found that his instructor, while lauding Abhay’s interest in sketching,  said that he needed to work on following instructions as to which color goes where! I understand that it is better to stand out than to merge, but at times it is also important to conform or blend in with the background! Isn't it?

Today I read a book that was recommended by one of the parenting websites as being a book that help kids to think out of the box. ‘Big Orange Splot” by Daniel Manas Pinkwater does just that - drop a big orange splot on your little one’s imagination! Mr. Plumbean’s street was a neat one as all the houses were painted the same color and everyone like it that way. But one day, a flying seagull carrying a can of orange paint dropped the can on Mr. Plumbean’s house making a conspicuous orange splot on his roof. Everyone who lived on the street thought it looked ugly and asked Mr. Plumbean to paint his house back to the same color as it was. Mr. Plumbean just looked at the orange splot and went about his business. All the neighbors then got impatient and kept hounding him over his spotty roof. Finally, one night, Mr. Plumbean began painting his house and the next morning, to everyone’s surprise, not only did the orange spot still adorn his roof, but the house was painted like a rainbow. The neighbors disapproved but Mr. Plumbean couldn’t care less. He went on to build a tower on top of his house and painted a clock on the tower and then drove to the market and came back with a truck load of green things. While everyone gawked, Mr. Plumbean planted palm trees, baobabs, thorn bushes and hung a hammock in between the palm trees on which he lay relaxed, sipping a glass of lemonade. When questioned, Mr. Plumbean says “This is my house and I am it. My house is where I like to be and it looks like all my dreams.” When his neighbor calls on Mr. Plumbean to talk some sense into him, Mr. Plumbean invites him into his garden and has a nice chat with him under the cool shade of the palm trees. The next day, everyone is shocked to see the house next to Mr. Plumbean’s painted into a red and yellow ship, to reflect the owner's dreams! Slowly, one by one, all the residents draw inspiration from Mr. Plumbean and paint their so called ‘neat street’ into a street of their dreams! Of course, Abhay loved this book which is his new favorite now! I guess this book has not only taught Abhay to think out of the box, but helped Abhay’s mommy to do the same too!  So the next time, I see Abhay shading a car in rainbow colors, I can say “This is his picture, and he is it. This picture is where he likes to be and looks like his dreams”!!!