Sunday, September 19, 2010

A Positive Spin on Negative Shapes

You don't have to look very long or hard at these roses to spot the fairies in their midst.  Are you seeing both of them?  All drawings, photos, and in fact everything in nature, architecture or design has both positive and negative shapes.  A negative shape is just the space shaped by the objects that surround it.  Children sense this intuitively, but we adults sometimes have to look a little closer to appreciate that a shape can be defined in almost infinite ways.  For example, when we arrange our furniture, we are usually thinking about how the placement of the pieces will influence the space between and around the pieces.

Drawing and coloring can create a bridge for your child between their abstract ability to design beautiful things and the way those designs can enhance our lives.  Winston Churchill said, "We shape our homes and then our homes shape us."  I think kids "get" this connection naturally.  Expressing themselves on paper is one way they learn to make their mark on the world.

2 comments:

  1. This takes some talent! I've noticed that after coloring several of the pictures in the coloring book, my daughters have now starting coloring on the blank pages as well. That is a fantastic idea to include blank sides in your coloring books!

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  2. I am really, really pleased that the little girls are starting to draw their own fairies and princesses. Imagination strikes again!

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