Are you convinced that you cannot draw? Did your older siblings tell you that? Hopefully you had a mother who told you not to listen to them. Being convinced that she could not draw had dramatic consequences for one girl.

Family Support

Are you convinced that you can't draw? Some people are. Some of them try to prove their point by telling me that they can't draw a straight line. Well, neither can I. I am an artist and not an architect, and if I were an architect, I would use a ruler to draw a straight line.

Why do you think that I can draw? Not because I am any more gifted than anyone else, but because I have been practicing continually for more than 60 years.

Sure, my older brother made fun of my drawing. He was so much better than I was, exactly 8 years better. I did not let him discourage me. My mother told me that I was the smartest of her children, and I believed her. Maybe she told all her children the same thing. That's all right. At least she convinced me that I could do anything I set my mind to doing.

Not every child is so lucky to have a supportive mother. Let me tell you a story about one girl who did not. I no longer remember her name, so let's call her Marie.

Lack of Family Support

Marie was in a small class of emotionally disturbed children to whom I taught art once a week. The homeroom teacher was my best friend, and she shared with me insights about each child to help me deal with them. The art turned out to be healing to the children. Many of them had suffered abuse and neglect early in life.

Marie was in that class. She felt comfortable with me. We had talked to each other during recess many times. Soon after the beginning of the first art class, the children fell deathly silent and stopped what they were doing. When I asked what the problem was, they pointed to Marie. She was hanging in her desk, limp, with her head touching the floor. I had no idea how to deal with the problem, so I called the homeroom teacher back.

It turned out that Marie was suffering from an epileptic seizure, the first one in the school. Why do you think that Marie had the seizure in art class? It wasn't because of me. No, it was because of her older brothers. Like my brother, they had told her that she couldn't draw, and she had no mother to encourage her as I had.

Just the thought of an art class frigthened her, because it reminded her of her brothers' words, "You can't draw."

Solution

We solved Marie's problem by letting her stay with her homeroom teacher during art class. She had no more seizures that year.

Marie did not develop a fear of me as might be expected. She continued to talk to me daily. She even hugged me every chance she got. She was only afraid of failure.

A Better Way

It would be nice if I could tell you that we helped Marie to overcome her problem. Unfortunately we did not have the resources or time to do that in the school setting. We had to make provisions for her health first. During the summer, however, Marie was left to fend for herself against the cruelty of her brothers with no support from teachers. On a visit to Grand Beach, she kept walking out into the Lake Winnipeg, even though she could not swim. That was her way of ridding herself of the torture which her brothers inflicted on her, trying to convince her that she could not do anything right.

Are you convinced that you can't draw? Let me assure you that you can. Everyone can. Just start practicing. After you have been drawing a little every day as I have, you will be just as good at drawing as I am. Probably better.

© Traute Klein, biogardener