Fart Class

In his seventh grade art class, our oldest son was assigned to draw a self portrait based on a computer-printed, enlarged, grid-lined photograph of himself. After weeks of sketching, shadowing, erasing, and sketching again, the due date is finally here. (Actually, it’s passed but who’s counting.) He’s got half of it done. But symmetry is tricky. And the other half has been erased so many times, the paper is nearly translucent. It’s been a struggle, to say the least. Tonight, there were tears.

That just about did me in.

This story helped him.

In college, my good friend decided to take an art class…for fun! Her major demanded a class load full of difficult, rigorous classes and she wanted to mix it up with something light outside of her major. Silly friend…this was college…no such fun classes allowed! She spent more hours on this fun class than any other, going in for extra help, toiling over every art project, shedding buckets of tears… She tried everything. Still, her art skills didn’t seem to gel (or whatever) and she ended up with a B. Which wouldn’t be a big deal, except that she had a perfect 4.0 in all those other demanding, difficult, rigorous classes in her major. So her hard-earned GPA was brought down because of this fun class.

She called it “F-Art Class.”

Our oldest has the typical traits of a first-born. He’s extremely driven and a bit of a perfectionist. This class, though, will teach him a good lesson.

Not everything can be perfect. Not every assignment will get an A. Sometimes it’s okay to hand in something that isn’t stellar. It’s not worth the tears. Not when there are *so many* other great things happening.

Especially if it’s for Fart Class.

 

*UPDATE: Here’s the final version, which was included in the school’s annual art show. (Drawing on left based on B&W photo on right.) Not bad, IMO.