Nature or nurture? Chips offin the old block?

So ever since I can remember, my folks have killed time doing artsy stuff. My mom's hand painted ceramics have been world class forever, and my dad has turned acres of trees into sawdust since I was a kid - and more recently he's been painting with a brushes and canvases. They're in their 70's and still play "look what I made" every time we're over - and it's almost always something legit.

My one sister couldn't draw flies if she crapped in a bucket, but my other one has made some killer artsy stuff over the years too - paintings, stained glass work, shabby sheek home decorating, etc.

Then there's me. I've always doodled things, fabricated things, saw things that I thought could be turned into other things, etc. Not great, but I've held my own and typically gotten pretty good reviews. I've always enjoyed it. Enough so that I've started to accept that it's what I want to do for a living. I'm taking art classes at U of M and taking airbrush classes from an absolute master at the art. For the noobs, my thing has mostly and always been flames.

Of my 4, my oldest daughter Kaleigh is by far an artsy kid. It's her thing. She is ALWAYS drawing, markering, cutting, pasting, etc, and putting things up on display all over the house. The others, not as much.

Anyway, so our oldest three play Upwards church league basketball every Saturday. Their games are at 10, 12, and 2 - so there's an hour of lame time between every game. Just off the gym, there are educational and rec rooms - and places to kill an hour playing fooseball or whatever.

Anyway again, I stepped out of the room for a minute while my oldest 2 were playing fooseball and when I returned, I snapped this pic:



Kaleigh's on the right drawing a dog, and - holy smokes - Blase is trying to fire up the whole dang board. Not only is he drawing instead of doing something competitive, or something sports related - it's actually not bad for a 9 year old! Even if you think it's not that good, I can assure you that it's MILES better than what I've seen Crovo do! I didn't even know Blaser had it in him.

Within seconds, my head was swirlling with rejoicing and the endless possibilities of him setting the world on fire WITH me. Stupid, I know, but, whatever.

From there I couldn't help but to think - while it appears that lots of people in my family do artsy things, almost nobody does the same kind of art. It's not at all like anybody "hands down" any tips, tricks, or skills to anybody. There's not a family trade, like blacksmithing or whatever. As far as doing what any single one of us seems to have been drawn to, we might as well be total strangers.

So now that I've overshared my family's hobby background - d'ya think we're chips off the old blocks - or are our skills independent despite our being related?

What would your vote be?

Nature?

Nurture?

General thoughts?

I can say those are better flames than I could ever hope to draw.

My thought was exposure.You grew up with your folks doing it and who are still doing art.You have had some fairly artistic efforts and your kids saw
the pleasure you derived from it.I think we all enjoy compliments and all of you enjoy doing things with your hands.I dont think its a talent as much
as you putting forth the effort to make something others enjoy.And the better you get at said "art" the more enjoyment you derive from the compliments.
M H O
Jim Gordon

Those flames suck. And you can tell him I told you so, too.

lol

Seriously though. The boy's got mad skills. Just like his grandfather.

I side with Jimbeau's last comment on this picture that you also posted on facebook

Oh please. I can get a pic of Kaleigh drawing something EVERY day of the week. I was trying to get them both in the pic AND as much of the flames as possible, and the stupid new droid camera phone thing cropped her out a little.

It's not a sign of obvious favoritism towards her brother.

You're just a flamer that's all!

I have to agree with the exposure comment. I think all children have latent artistic talents and if exposed to them at a young age in a positive environment, then the seed sprouts and grows.

Bewber wrote:

It's not a sign of obvious favoritism towards her brother.

Yes it is. You are evil.

Joke, folks... joke.

Glad to see I'm not the only father corrupting his kids with his own hobbies. ; )

81X11 wrote:

Glad to see I'm not the only father corrupting his kids with his own hobbies. ; )

Not at all, Mike. My dad did it too. How do you think I ended up in a place like this? lol

Good stuff!

I think that there is a component of nature which, if it's missing, you can't get it. My mom's an artist, my wife's an artist, and they both say "Anyone can draw!" I can't. Even with lots of lessons from mom while I was growing up. There is a certain innate ability that I don't have.

However, there are a lot of things that can be taught. Rules of composition and stuff like that. I was into photography for a while, and I learned what made a good photograph. I put the work into learning the skills.

Being an artist requires both. You need that little spark of talent to begin with, but then you need to do the work to develop your skills.

Your son seems to have a good natural talent. It will be up to him if he wants to learn to do anything more difficult than drawing flames, superheros, and naked girls on his high school notebooks.