I love student art work. I have a great appreciation for art, period. My favorite pieces of art are impressionist style paintings. Think Van Gogh. Think Monet.

I especially enjoy watercolor and texture paintings. Having spent very little time watching t.v., as a child, and lots of time crafting, creating, and reading you can say that I got it honest. Watching Bob Ross every time his program aired on PBS probably had a lot to do with this interest as well. Anyway, I said all this to say that I really appreciate painters and their paintings.

Generally, when students give me their art, its hand drawn sketches that they’ve created. This is on a whole other level.

I’d been working with this student to prepare for an English speech contest that she was participating in. After editing a few versions of her speech, we began weekly sessions where I would listen to her pronunciation. As we got closer to her contest date we decided to meet every morning, before school, at 8 am to go over her speech a few times before the teachers meeting.

I thought that her enthusiasm, emotion, and the added hand gestures that I suggested were going to clinch the win for her. On the last day of our morning speech practice she gave a package. It was a thank you gift. It was neatly wrapped in a cute paper bag, sealed with a tiny piece of tape. I asked her if she wanted me to open it in front of her. She said “yes!”. I was so touched, dude. Outside, I was smiling and appreciative. Inside, I was freaking out! I couldn’t say enough about how much I loved and would treasure this gift.

The first thing that you will notice is that this painting is a watercolor! Love it. She captured my red glasses perfectly. Loved that too. In these last few months, I used that fan whenever I was hot. A Japanese teacher asked me if I knew what that kanji meant. She then proceeded to tell me that it was the kanji for wind. I now use it because its both ironic and useful. The attention to detail is amazing. She got my locs in a way that is so dissimilar to Medusa that I love that also. The frame is simple. I love that too. Its all around lovely.

At our previous speech practice, she showed me her story book that she’d created. All the pictures were painted by herself. She’d entered a storybook contest and won! At the beginning of the term there was an announcement during the teachers meeting about a student winning a storybook contest in Kobe but I never would have thought it was her! The art was beautifully done. The story was a simple children’s tale that she’ written, in hiragana, about a small boy and his paint brush.

Seeing her watercolor paintings reminded me that my sister had recently shared her art with me. I showed her the accordion watercolor journal that my sister, Crystal, made. She was super excited to see it. Crystal had crafted this little journal and then painted a flower with a butterfly perched on its petals. When I explained that Crystal was excited because she’d created 21 colors by using only 6 primary colors, she picked up on that immediately.

Like all my other student artwork that has been given to me, I will keep and treasure this.