Milk, spoon and table

Peace 3, 2007, 12"x12", acrylic on canvas

This morning. We are having breakfast in the kitchen. My children are eating cereals with milk. At some point, one of them spills a little bit of milk on the dark wooden table, looks at it and starts drawing with his spoon in the milk. He draws a round fish, then pulling the milk, he draws the pond around the fish and then a tree and the sun and some clouds. I am watching, interested to see where this is going. Soon the drawing covers a good portion of the table. His brother stopped eating and is staring at the drawing in process. He did not say anything but I can tell he wants to draw too. He spills a little bit of milk on the table with his spoon. And starts drawing too, his face illuminated. There is only the table and the milk, nothing else exists around him, he is making all sorts of lines and shapes, turning the spoon and trying different possibilities.

When they are done, they start talking a lot, at the same time, very excited. They ask me if we can keep the drawing on the table. They want to see it dry. I tell them that we can keep it until they come back from school. They are extremely happy. When they come back home, it is the first thing they check out. The drawing is now sticky and almost transparent. They agree we can wash it.