During the Christmas holidays of 2004, my sister came into town with her kids in tow, Naomi and Matt. Whenever they come and visit, it's a big family fest and all the kids get together and have a great time. Even though her kids are older than mine, the four get along very well. It's well known within the family that Matt is pretty much a Mini-Ward. My sister reminds me of this fact whenever her son showcases his finicky eating habits around the dinner table. (I wasn't known to eat everything on my plate, to say the least. Heaven knows I tried, though. I really did.) The Mini-Ward factor also pops up whenever Matt draws or creates something. I have to say that he does have a unique artistic quality about him—I can only hope that he keeps it up. He's quite talented.
For this particular visit, Ava and Matt (4 and 7 years old at the time) spread out on the floor and began to draw all these wild and fantastic scenarios filled with aliens and spaceships attacking houses. (Naomi, the eldest, spent some time drawing with them as well, but she moved on to something else after a while.) Ava was just following Matt's lead, but soon she started to create her own characters and aliens, which at the time was a first for her. In fact, this was a big moment for Ava and her artistic development because here, she was carefully watching her cousin in the way he drew all the characters and ships and the overall action. Before, her drawings were done very quickly and consisted of simple shapes and color. But after drawing with Matt during his visit, her drawings became much more developed and intricate. It was as if this event awakened the artist deep from within. It was fascinating to watch all this unfold right before my very eyes.
The drawing is big, almost 11" x 14". You can tell that Matt did most the action you see on the right side, with Ava doing her thing over on the left. Nice touch with the woman in the bottom left corner, screaming—see the talk balloon?
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