Matisse

    The other thing that I wanted to implement after attending the seminar was daily outside time. Molly and I go out most days, but I found that going to and from the car is often the only actual outside time. I had purchased a pair of rain boots for myself this past summer so I was looking forward to putting them to use. On that Wednesday, we put our rain gear on and went outside. We were just strolling along the sidewalk when I looked down and saw the leaves plastered onto the wet sidewalk. She and I read a lot about artists so I said, "Which artist would have liked to paint this?" She looked at me blankly so I said, "Cezanne probably would have because he painted still-life." Then I said, "What do you think Matisse would have thought of this? Maybe he would have used the leaves as inspiration for his stained glass or his paintings? What would he have thought of the colors?" Molly passionately said, "He would not have liked these colors. He liked bright colors!" So as we walked along she would run to grab certain leaves and would shout, "Matisse would have loved this one!" She then collected about 6 huge maple leaves and brought them home. We decided to paint them. We called it, "If Matisse had his way." It was Molly's interpretation of what Autumn would look like if Matisse had his way. She painted each of the leaves a bright, beautiful color and we set them aside to dry. As I was sitting there, she said, "I have a poem." Now when Molly says those words I have to jump to find a video camera because it could be gone as quickly as it comes and I can't write fast enough to keep up. I grabbed my phone and turned on the video camera and she made up a poem right there on the spot. Here it is...