I love when my teaching days are filled with moments of wonder, awe, and delight. To be clear, I think there are many such moments that pass by without any big noticing on my part.

Not so this week and last. These moments were palpable and beautiful. I had my girls work with acrylics on 30×40 inch canvases. I only had two weeks to finish the project so I divided the canvases into 4 sections. Each artist worked on a piece of art nearly 15×20. This in and of itself is magical — though not without bits of angst as some artists ignored the boarders placing their paint in their neighboring artists work. We did our best to remove any errant paint. I think sometimes I was more annoyed than the offended artist. So I breathed and stepped back into the joy of the moment.

First they practiced various line types on large sheets of paper using permanent markers. Then they grabbed brushes and with incredible bravery began making the lines on the canvas! Here are three of the canvases. We did six.

A few of the artists were moaning after just a bit of work. “I don’t like mine. It’s terrible.” I refused to accept their defeat, telling them they could not make that judgement. They were amazing artists, and kind kindergartners. Would they ever say that to one of the other kindergarten artists? They both replied “No.” I continued with no softness. “Then do not say it to yourselves! Do not be so unkind to yourself. Do you have a big beautiful brain? Do you have an awesome heart? Can you do hard things?” To each question they nodded. “Then believe in yourself, use them, and do this hard thing!!!”

Here are their masterpieces.

Two of the artists were absent so they still must add color, but the others have finished. As they removed the tape boarders, their amazement at their own work was evident. It was a moment of delight for us all.

Is it too much to ask that my days always be filled with wonder, delight, and awe? I think not. I must just change my focus to see it, and do my best to facilitate it.