Essays:
Children under the age of four enjoy covering themselves in paints. So few of us get to do this with as much abandon as Emma. Who needs a brush anyway?
Haven Art has the possibility of one unforgetable party for ages four and under. How old are you? Maybe we can make an exception.
Painting My World
Marsha Benoff is a writer, painter
All too often an unexpected, unplanned, unintended act will in one moment change a life forever, for good or for bad.
My sister, who was considerably older than I, gave me an oil paint set complete with brushes, thinner, and turpentine, in a stained wood box.
“I know you’re a good artist,” She said. “So I’m sure you’ll have more use for this than I will.”
Bolstered by her confidence in my abilities, and with some recollection of having my “art” work displayed in early elementary school years, I began a lifelong relationship with paint.
After all, wasn’t my sister my most severe critic in all things, and didn't my awareness of her usual censorship assure me of her trust in my ability?
Suddenly, I was a child again, the same small girl who was given a box of 64 Crayola Crayons by this self same sister. My delight then was beyond my understanding, how to satisfy my desire to encompass color, to follow the path it tantalized me with.
I loved the paint box itself, but not as much as I loved the paints, the smells, the textures, the colors, but most of all the possibilities, the excitement of a blank canvas, the act of becoming one with creation.
And finally, a finished work!
A canvas I would set up in full view of my bed, a place prominent enough that I would see it last before sleep and first in the morning.
It was only many years later, after studying art, its history and varied applications, after having shows of my own and selling paintings, did I discover my sister had given me the paint box not because she had respect for my talent, but because she had become tired of pretending to her own friends, that she was herself, a painter.
