"Two Much" Talent!

"Two much talent?"
Yep, that's a real problem for me over here! My grandchildren are prolific in the fine arts and quantity produced has long ago exceeded square inch refrigerator space. Among the group of artists frequenting grandma's is a set of four year old twins. That means a run on dinosaurs, for example, leaves me with a head-spinning collection of watercolor behemoths. Thank goodness for Father's Day. Bless the person who invented that celebration! Bless him for clearing my cupboards and drawers and folders and closets and shoe boxes in advance of that national day of recognition for the fine young men whose precocious offspring fill my home and my heart with paintbrush, crayon, marker and pencil packing talent - "three much," actually, counting Bree, to absorb by myself!

The daddies in our family are not connoisseurs of the masters. They watch basketball for artistic stimulation. If we were to mention Picasso's "blue period" during a commercial break, they would nod in enthusiastic agreement, saying that there is only one more of those left in the game before the national championship is decided.

But I have seen one thing - one thing! - make them turn down the volume, drop the chips and set aside the beer. "Daddy, look what I made!" Awwww! Works every time. Crayons always trace the most direct way to daddy's heart! So, bless the woman who invented the recycle of kids' artwork into Father's Day gifts that surprise and delight while clearing grandma's shelves for next year's batch of creative overload! Oh, but wait! That's ME we're talking about here!

The Mother's Day gift cookbooks we made were a huge hit. That's when I decided we'd do the same for Father's Day, subbing original artwork for recipes. The twins' "Two Much Talent" book, with tabs for dinosaurs, creatures, rockets and abstract work, is pictured above, in progress.

Bree's gift for daddy will always remind him of his daughter's love for her first favorite song, "The Itsy, Bitsy 'Pie-der.'" The two of them still sing it together, so one day I asked if she'd like to paint a picture of the "pie-der." This is the result. With a very inexpensive frame and a fancy sheet of card stock, the painting became a work of art. My hope is that some day daddy will rock his grandchild, singing the same song. The image of a framed purple critter will linger in his mind as he smiles at the wisdom of his lovely mother-in-law who told him often that the years ahead would fly by before he knew it!

Purists may argue, "That is not an arachnid! Those have eight legs, not six!" But I would protest, "We never said this portrait was that of a 'spider.' We said it was a 'pie-der,' and last time we looked, those still had six legs, not eight!"