Meet Salty but Sweet. She is seven-years-old and has an expansive personality. She already attended her first class, which I gave her at half-price because of a generous patron. That is the way a potential beneficiary of this out-reach has the experience of being here and can express his/her interest in returning.

Her mother told me that Salty asked why they didn’t just pay for her to go back to art class. Her mom told her that the electricity bill had been very big and they couldn’t send her right now.

Here is a little gallery of Salty but Sweet’s drawings. At the bottom of this page, I have given a reflection on each drawing to let you know how I see this child’s talent.

You can see what I mean by “expansive personality.” Her drawings are bold and she dominates the paper. There are qualities in these drawings that interest me. In the fruit-bowl still life, Salty shows and uncut watermelon behind the bowl. She’s learned to use overlapping images to show depth, but even better than that, she’s looking very carefully. Notice the placement of where the stem had been attached to the watermelon. She found that place through observation. And like many artists from Medieval times, she couldn’t see how to put the watermelon slice in perspective, so she simply placed it to make the composition work.

In Mom with Salty and Teddy notice the proportions of the three characters. To a little girl mom is still very big. Yet look closely at the little girl and you’ll find tremendous loving detail from the snowman on her t-shirt to very colorful pants. I’d like to hear her story about this picture.

Love God is ripe with bird couples, nests, and branches, all making a wonderful composition. You can feel how this world extends beyond the paper’s edges. As I said, Salty and Sweet is expansive.

And for the image at the top, Mom with baby, (they just welcomed one into their home.) Dad, and lots of siblings. I do wonder about the winged ones. Perhaps they are angels, although tooth fairies did cross my mind.