Gifted and (also) Talented

In a previous post, I described Leo’s giftedness in intellectual and academic terms.  In order to more fully understand Leo, I need to also address his creativity. You see, Leo is academically gifted and also talented. He began writing and drawing at a young age and, when he wants to be, he is an amazing painter and artist. He will go weeks, or even months, without painting.  Then, suddenly, he’ll pick up a pencil and a brush and paint several amazing paintings in a week. He is able to create, in two 30-minute sessions, paintings that are incredible for his six years. Sadly (to me, not to him), he will often begin an amazing painting but then- for whatever reason- decide not to finish it.

Landscape with reflection on tile, painted last summer at age five.

Last Spring, we turned Leo’s bedroom into his “art studio”… we framed his favorites and hung them on his wall.

Leo working on “The Shadow of the Seahorse”, Fall 2013

My Little Poppies, July 13, 2014

Leo’s creativity is not limited to painting, as he’s been known to write many books (at age four he was author and illustrator to an entire series featuring a character called The Goofy Lion), spontaneously break out into poetry, maintain his own blog, and he also loves to invent and build.

Leo also uses art when frustrated or angry, and sometimes this can land him in hot water either at school (“When you’re finished with your worksheet, you may turn it over and draw a picture!”), at home, or even at church.  Last December, right before Christmas, our family was at mass. Schizz and I had brought paper and pencils with us to occupy the kids, as they were restless.  Leo was extremely angry that he had to go to mass on this particular day.  He was seated next to me, intermittently drawing and complaining of boredom.  He picked a very quiet moment, during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, to noisily pass this drawing to Schizz and I, exclaiming, “Look what I just drew!!”  Several individuals seated nearby cast disapproving looks as they had clearly seen what was written on the drawing:

“I hate God” ~ Pontius Pilate