I am so proud of our (now 9 years old, how time flies!) daughter, and so is Ani! Because, for some reason or another, she is not drawing much the last few weeks, but one evening (May 6th, 2021, to be exact), she sat down and started copying a nice drawing… and lo and behold! after at least two hours of careful, focused work, she was ready.

This is a good drawing on many levels, and it made my heart sing! :-)

I believe that when we make art of any kind (be it music, drawing, writing, poetry, or anything else), we become better, more relaxed, more “zen”, if you like.

And, yes, Simona was copying another illustration, but so what? We all learn while we copy other people’s work, and it’s OK — and not only because Picasso said so years ago. We also create new things while copying, we better master our craft, and we create new value.

“The quote in this form was a favorite of Steve Jobs but he but he was probably (mis)quoting Pablo Picasso who said “Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal” – who in turn might be rephrasing Igor Stravinsky, but both sayings may well originate in T. S. Eliot’s dictum: “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn.” – The origins of this quote itself is an example of great artists stealing.”
(# source)

I hope to see our daughter drawing again with such zeal, one of these days. Our world has become a bit dark place lately (and not only because of the COVID-19 pandemic, raging around the Earth since the beginning of 2020) so every little piece of art gives us more light. And we need this light. :-)