12th June, 2009 - My First Artistic Expression

I took the kids to an art class at the Museum of Modern Art today. If any of you have kids I recommend it (Saturdays from about 10 I think) – it’s really well organised by very happy volunteers who inspire the youngsters to think about art. It is a fairly midlle class affair (Tarquin - come here - you've got pain au chocolat all over your new Gap hoodie. Honestly!) but the kids seem to enjoy it.


It got me thinking about what my own first artistic expression was. I can remember – and it must be one of my earliest memories – painting at playgroup. So I must have been 3 or 4. It is odd. I can see the paper up on the easel. It was coarse grainy paper – like blotting paper – and I am fairly sure it was torn off a roll. And I can remember pretty clearly the wooden handled brush and the noise it made on the paper. Scratchy. The paint being absorbed by the coarse paper. It must have been a big thing at the time. The memory has lasted nearly forty years.