inside, he was just a big softie

A friend had an exhibition. She is an art teacher and I have the utmost respect for her craft. Her photography is fantastic because of her technical skills, but more importantly, her beautiful mind invites engaging themes to spill into her work. In the recent show, she explored the theme of her son playing a knight and a ninja. With the costumes somewhat obscuring his little body, the boy took on the roles of someone much bigger, stronger, braver and simply, someone a 5 year old much admires.

We had a great conversation about raising boys. Many questions came up, not the least of which was: "How do we nurture the sweet, gentle spirit our sons so freely share with us right now, while letting them grow into confident, competent men?" There are so many pressures girls feel while growing up. What I didn't witness until I became a mom was that boys have a lot of the same pressures, with the disadvantage to openly talk about them among their peers. The expectancy to grow fast and be tough seems prominent in western society. I think some of that is changing and I'm happy to participate.

This painting was done a few years ago. I loved it then. As I saw it again last week, I realized it was ready to morph into something more current for me. I added the blooms and a soft pink trickle spill on the side. The title "South of the Cut" has become "Inside, He Was Just A Big Softie".

Nikol Haskova Studio