The R.A.'s artistic Renaissance has been a long time coming. A few years back my husband and I, along with the R.A., went out to lunch. The hostess said hello to the R.A. and he warmly returned her greeting by saying no and refusing to look at her. Not wanting the hostess to be offended by the R.A.'s seemingly antisocial response, we said that the R.A. was autistic. The waitress enthusiastically replied, "That's wonderful! I'll make sure to give him lots of crayons." We didn't bother correcting or explaining that we said autistic not artistic. At that point in time the R.A. was markedly uninterested in coloring with the crayons preferring instead to tear the paper off them and then snapping the crayons in two. Luckily the hostess did bring lots of crayons. It kept the R.A. busy enough that my husband and I got to eat most of our meals.
The R.A. has really evolved as an artist. His style is bold - think Paul Klee mixed with Animal from the Muppets. As far as color use goes, the R.A. goes through color periods where his work is limited to one color - his yellow period, his blue period, etc. Currently he is in his magenta period.
His passion is so all encompassing that it cannot be limited to the traditional and pedestrian canvas such as paper or coloring book. Right now the R.A. rejects these, opting instead for floors, walls, windows, furniture, clothing, and occasionally himself or his sister. Obviously what the R.A. is saying, through his art, is that it just cannot be contained as it is so great. His art seeps into the fabric of our lives. Literally.
Although the R.A. has always had an affinity for coloring, it has really blossomed within the past few weeks. This explosion began after we discovered that he had smuggled a crayon into his room. One morning we discovered his room had been transformed into a post modern version of a golden sunrise. Perhaps my husband and I are philistines, but we did confiscate the crayon. Refusing to be thwarted and illustrating yet again his superior intelligence, the R.A. smuggled in another crayon, actually he smuggled in crayons repeatedly and now the room is veritable rainbow of colors.
We do want to encourage his artistic expression but would like to direct it toward paper. The R.A. routinely fakes us out by sitting nicely at his little table with crayons and paper, seemingly contentedly coloring away, sometimes muttering "Colah, colah, colah" as he does. In reality he is just waiting us out. The minute we leave the room the crayon leaps from the substandard coloring book onto the nearest inappropriate surface. Last night it was a wooden tray table which is now half magenta.
I'm currently thinking that my husband and I could try to make some money off of his art. (It would really help offset the cost of cleaning supplies.) We could market him as an autistic artistic genius. In addition to the rare "on paper" created works we could also sell items he colored on such as tables and clothing, taking advantage of the functionality of his creativity.
Following are some samples of his work. If you are interested in purchasing any or commissioning the R.A. to make your dining room set a one of a kind work of art, let me know.
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