The Family Portrait
Only a small corner of the sheet of ruled notebook paper is slightly folded in, an obvious indication of where it was once held. The rest of it is near pristine; treated with care and pride. The crayons selected were vibrant. The colors compliment each other, depicting a scene you would expect from a child.
There is green grass, a blue sky, yellow sun, and a white house with a brown roof. The door to the home is red. A woman named Mommy is in the yard wearing a purple dress, while Daddy is wearing blue jeans and an orange shirt. A yellow dog, possibly a Golden Retriever or perhaps a Labrador, is in the line up as well. A girl with a pink dress and blonde hair labeled “Me” completes the family portrait.
Quite a bit of time was spent on this picture. The objects have sharp, bold outlines and the coloring stays within their borders. It’s better than most kids’ pictures, and the artist probably couldn’t wait to show their mother and father.
The bright hues on the notebook paper are almost perverse when contrasted against the cold gray sidewalk the picture lays on. Flecks of dirt smudge portions of the paper here and there, especially on the white house. The whole scene is out of place. The picture should be hanging on the wall at the elementary school two blocks away, or on a refrigerator in the depicted house. I really hate this job sometimes, I think.
