juststuff: do you like pigs?

Friday, 14 October 2011

do you like pigs?

I am no artist. I remember when Gareth started to talk there were two things he loved "Ducks and Huggins". Huggins were dogs and because it was a rather nice word for a dog the whole family played along with him. Weird how you do things like that. A whole family, including Nanna and Dick and Oupa and Ouma, suddenly saying "Hello Huggin" "Look a Huggin". It only stopped a couple of years later when Nic was learning to talk and we thought that we actually had no right to change the whole English language because we thought huggin was a better word than dog. Gareth was the cutest little boy with the deepest ever voice (he still is cute with a deep, booming voice). He used to sit on my lap and ask (tell) me to "Draw a duck". I was good at ducks.

I could draw ducks and boxes. You know that easy way we used to draw boxes. In fact while doodling I still draw boxes.

He was learning to talk and I was learning to draw and it progressed from "draw duck" to "draw more ducks" "Gaff likes ducks" and "draw duck in box". He did not like pigs. Strange child. The family had a short holiday at Eight Bells (on the way to George) a few months before Nic was born.

Off to Eight Bells 1985 (Please note the sunglasses have come back into fashion)

There were baby pigs on the farm and all you could hear was Gareth (with his hands over his eyes) saying "I don't like Pigs". He did not like Father Christmas either. His dislike of pigs came from a book he was given called Poorly Pig. It was a sweet story about a sick pig and we could never get past the first page of the story without him pulling the book out of your hand and closing it. I wish I had kept that book. I am pleased to add that forcing "Poorly Pig" on him did not kill his love of books. Parents don't always realise the damage they can do to a child (remind me to tell you the story of Nic and the Barbie Doll and Nic and the Chili).

Anyway, as some of your are lucky enough to be grandparents and some have young children (yes, I do have some younger readers) and perhaps some of you are also only able to draw ducks and boxes, here are a couple of lessons for you for the weekend. Practice nicely and let me know how you do.