What's Wrong With This Photo?

Alex and I have been making a lot of art lately and I'm thrilled that he’s finally, genuinely interested in sitting still and creating. Drawing and painting were a huge passion of mine and to get to hang with him now and sketch and create is so much fun. Last weekend we were trying to figure out what to draw so I decided to teach him about still life. I casually grabbed what I had on hand—bananas, apples and, of course, wine—and set up a little scene for us on the dining room table. We listened to Miles Davis radio on Pandora and broke out the oil pastels for some mother-son bonding time. It was awesome and we were proud of our work (clearly, since we hung it on the wall). And then I didn't think about it again. Until…he came home from school with a drawing of a wine bottle in his folder. D'oh!

I almost cared enough to say something to Alex but instead I waited until he left the room and laughed out loud as I showed Nick. I don’t think it’s wrong to have wine in my house and I don’t think it’s wrong to have my son sketch a wine bottle (is it?) and so I let it go. Especially since making a big deal out of it or telling him it was somehow wrong would be…I don’t know, making something out of nothing? Obviously if he keeps drawing wine bottles (or worse, a stick figure with red hair drinking from said bottle) we’ll have to talk. But for now I think he was just expressing his new still life talent. I hope. I think.

There are actually two things wrong with this picture, if you check out this pulled back shot:

This is a wall between my dining room/living room (we have an open layout) and this is our only art. It’s a big blank wall and, well, ugh! I just don’t want to put up crap (been there) so we’re holding out for something original and cool and fabulous and not too expensive (know of anything?) and in the meantime, I'm scotch taping our carrot and wine bottle drawings up there. It could be worse, I suppose. So, what’s the most embarrassing thing your kid has ever drawn at school? Tell me it’s worse than a cheap bottle of red wine!