Behind the Artwork

I've mentioned before that my daughter, who turned four in late October, is a great photographer. She's also a talented artist. Although her drawings are crude, there's a balance to them. They look like they are supposed to look the way they look, if that makes sense. If I was drawing a cat, a dog, and a pig, they would look awkward and tentative... kind of like they were drawn by a four-year-old. So, here are some of The Girl's latest artwork, designed on a small Dora notepad at a mall food court and, surprisingly, in a moving car.

First, the original drawings, scanned by my new wireless printer that makes my old printer look like a Flintstones "bird pecking on a stone tablet" model:

And now, a look at the making of these works of art:

The dog may be my favorite, cute-wise, but the pig picture is the most interesting:

While drawing, The Girl realized that she didn't know what a pig's tail looked like. She had the drawing nearly finished when this realization hit. He was sans curly tail and that was it. Clearly she had intended the extra long leg to be a tail, and when I told her pig tails were curly, she looked at her drawing intensely for a few seconds. Then she said, as if she needed to justify it, "This... this is his leg. He's sticking it out. THIS is his tail." Then she scribbled what she thought a curly tail should look like. 

Pretty quick thinking.

My favorite part of this drawing is the pig crossing sign. I'm not sure why I would need to know in advance that a pig is coming, but I'm sure it could come in handy.

I feel a little guilty letting The Girl do most of the work in today's blog entry. I guess I'll cut her in on the profits. Maybe she can buy a piece of candy. :)              

UPDATE: My friend "karendipitee" sent me this link, demonstrating that there apparently IS a need for pig crossing signs.  http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1600&bih=697&q=pig+crossing&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

(This pig is nearly as cute as The Girl's. Nearly.------------------->)