Paint What You See….

Since joining the soccer team, Chew Bear had all but forgotten his issues surrounding his past. The fact that he knew little to nothing about his life before Chaka and Chacha no longer ate away at him. He was enjoying the present. His soccer team was winning games left and right and his nights were filled with homework. Any spare moment Chew Bear could find was spent with his family and friends. Really, he had no time to dwell! Of course there were nights when he would lie in bed wondering, thinking and dreaming up a past that made sense….but it did not happen nearly as often.

As school progressed, Chew Bear gained a new appreciation and passion for art – his favorite class. He loved that the class allowed him to use his creativity and imagination in all of his projects. Every Tuesday Chew Bear’s class would march down the hall to the art room, don their smocks and get to work on their projects.

The class learned all sorts of things in art class; it wasn’t merely painting pictures or sculpting clay. He learned the different colors of the rainbow in sequence of hues: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. His teacher, Ms. Potts also taught the class a great way to remember the colors – ROYGBIV (an acronym that uses the first letter of each color), or Roy G. Biv! Roy G. Biv even translated into becoming one of Chew Bear’s imaginary friends.

The classes learned about warm colors (red, yellow, orange) and cool colors (blue, green, purple) on the Color Wheel.  They learned that the Primary Colors are red, yellow and blue, and certain combinations of them would create the Secondary Colors. Mixing blue with yellow makes green. Red and yellow gives you orange. And blue and red makes violet! Chew Bear thought this was so interesting!

They learned how to make pots and figures out of clay, and then bake them in a kiln to make them turn hard and glossy. Ms. Potts showed the class how to create piñatas out of paper mache and how to make macaroni necklaces. She shared the importance of creativity and to putting your feelings and emotions into your work. Every class was a new adventure and Chew Bear couldn’t wait to put his smock on every Tuesday.

One Tuesday in the spring time Chew Bear’s class entered the art room at 10:00am sharp to find a dozen easels arranged in the shape of an oval around the class. Instead of facing the center of the circle where Ms. Potts usually stood to teach, they faced the outside, toward the windows. Chew Bear thought this was a bit strange but then again, there is never anything ordinary about art!

After visiting their lockers and covering their good school clothes with smocks, Ms. Potts directed each child to an easel. She then passed out pallets and paint brushes to each student. At her direction, they went to the supply closet to gather paint, choosing colors carefully though they knew not what they would be painting.

Upon returning to their easels, Ms. Potts explained to the class that today they would not be painting a bird, a tree or a self-portrait. In fact, they would not be painting anything particular at all. Instead, they would be painting what they felt. Ms. Potts asked the students to close their eyes and clear their minds. The class began to meditate. She then asked them to visualize something important to them personally, something they see often.

As the rest of the class was imagining ice cream cones, soccer balls and roller coasters, Chew Bears body jolted as if an electric current was flowing right through it. His head began to spin and he could see a tiny island with a long beach, many trees, a waterfall, a bridge and some ancient looking structures/building. All of a sudden Chew Bear’s eyes open and he began to fiercely paint on his canvas…….

To be continued……