From as soon as she could hold a crayon, Kinsley has been enamored with making her mark. She’s not picky about the medium, crayon, pencil, paint, stamps, she happy to try them all. As the cold weather settles in, I’ve been trying to plan out more art time to keep Kins entertained. She’s enthusiastic about trying anything new.

I’m not particularly interested in turning her handprints into dinosaurs or turkeys, nor in creating perfect tissue paper trees, at least not often. Preschool art, to me and fortunately to Kinsley as well, is all about process.

Take our folded paper butterflies. Even calling them butterflies is a bit of a stretch. Blob paint onto half the paper, fold, press, oooh, recycle.

The recycle part is important. For Kinsley, art is lovely and beautiful and transient. She makes it, enjoys it, and moves on.

Our art is about the difference between markers and crayons. It’s the feel of paint on fingers. Art is watching red and yellow turn to orange over and over again. It’s the fascination of watching the white glue pour out of the bottle and the excitement of anything glittery.

Once in a while I save a piece, either physically or digitally. It’s less to save the piece and more so that I can look back on the evolution of her style. She’s moved from scribbles to deliberate straight lines and circles. Recently she’s started naming specific parts of her pictures, this is a fish, this is Josie.

If your wrapping paper looks a little creative this year, you know who to thank.