A Garden of Tulips

At the start of a new school year, I was thinking about ideas for art projects for the K1 and K2 children. One project we always prepare for is Mother’s Day. I began looking for flowers that would be simple enough for the children to paint. The year before, we had painted daisies, and it took quite a bit of practice for the children to get the petal shapes right. That was when the idea of tulips came to mind. I began searching for pictures of tulips online, studying the flowers and thinking about how their shapes could be simplified so that young children could paint them. As I looked more closely, I found myself becoming increasingly fascinated by the flowers themselves. That was when the inspiration for this colourful painting of tulips came to life. While painting, I realized that there are many different kinds of tulips. Although they share a similar overall form, each variety has its own unique details and subtle differences in shape. It reminded me of how wonderfully creative God is. Nature is full of variations and beauty, even within something that at first glance seems simple. Moments like this make me especially grateful for the gift of painting. It allows me to slow down and notice the beauty in the smallest details of nature — details that can be surprisingly awe-inspiring. In the end, the children did not paint tulips for Mother’s Day that year. Instead, we visited a sakura exhibition and discovered that it was much easier for them to paint a canopy of cherry blossoms by dabbing different shades of pink. But the tulips did not go to waste. For the rest of the year, this cheerful garden of tulips welcomes the children at the school door each day, adding a bright and joyful start to their mornings.

INSPIRATION