10.18.2020

stray gray marks

Michael Chabon wrote about the heartbreaking pragmatism necessary to function as a parent, equating lost memories of his children, the inevitable evaporation of the quotidian and the boring, with the seemingly endless flow of children’s artwork (much of which he ends up throwing away). 
For Chabon: Every day is like a kid’s drawing, offered to you with a strange mixture of ceremoniousness and offhand disregard, yours for the keeping. Some of the days are rich and complicated, others inscrutable, others little more than a stray gray mark on a ragged page. Some you manage to hang on to, though your reasons for doing so are often hard to fathom.

*all art by Tucker, age 11
** the single crazy-face guy on the gestural sketch and the horns on Mr. Barnaby were both late additions by a little brother

2 comments:

rht said...

Tucker's incredible attention to detail in his drawings has always intrigued me. I am thinking about that guy in the first drawing... Darwin and Calvin appear to be having fun! That Tollie... always adding a bit of spice, isn't he?

Poppy John said...

Jenni Baby,
Maybe there is a future in the boys making and selling "special occasion" cards to friends, neighbors and relatives (?)

L2A

P.S. Watch for "stray brown marks" when doing the boys laundry. Use bleach.