Meet Viv

It all began with a box of crayons…

Hi, I’m Ashlynn, Vivienne’s Mom. I want to share a bit about her so you get an idea of who she is and her art.

Viv is Autistic. She is a beautiful, vibrant, funny, strong-willed (let’s be honest, like any parent, I could add 30 more adjectives of how awesome she is)…almost 4 year old.

She is non-verbal and uses different forms of communication to ask for things and express herself. I believe her art is one of those ways. She paints in bold, vibrant, intense strokes. She is the happiest when she is painting….but, being tickled is a close second.

When Viv was super small she would scribble FOREVER with these really cool Japanese crayons I bought off Amazon. They were ring shaped so she couldn’t break them and eat them. Coloring with those crayons was when I started to see how she became hyper focused and intense with her coloring, and most importantly, how happy she was while creating. Most kids press lightly with crayons and get bored after a few minutes. Not Viv, she can sit for a solid 20 minutes without looking up and just scribble with such fire and passion. When she was 2, I started to introduce her to paint…and that’s when her love of artistic creation really took off. See, I am a personal lover of art and painting, so I would let her paint for as long as she wanted and as often as she wanted. I also let her paint whatever she wanted, within reason. My walls have been scrubbed clean more times than I would like to admit, ha. If all the world is a stage for actors…all our home is a canvas for Vivienne. :) Outside of canvas, her favorite thing to paint at the moment is herself, a recent obsession would be dipping her fingers in swirls of pink and purple and slowly dragging her painty tips down the center of her forehead so she has a really cool forehead art piece. Then she goes to the mirror to admire her work, and I suppose contemplate a business plan for opening her own face painting kiosk at Coachella. What can I say, she’s an artiste!

All the art you see is 100 percent done by her. She is old enough now where she goes to her paint closet and brings me the colors she wants to use that day. Some days it’s all pink, her favorite color, and other days it’s blues, black and greens. It all depends on how she feels.

I just sit back and watch her, or I’ll just walk away and let her be alone and she creates. When she’s finished, she lays her favorite green paint brush down and walks away. Some days it’s just swirls and a mess of colors, but other days I’m left with a beautiful abstract piece that I end up studying and analyzing as I search for shapes and figures. They are truly works of art, and I’m not just saying that because I am her mom. When she paints….it’s with focused intention, deliberate strokes, and careful color placement. Every time before she dip’s her brush into a color on her palette, she contemplates if it’s the color she really wants to use, and where it will go. It’s really something to see a little kid so invested in their artistic creations.

It’s been such a joy since I started to notice her interest and talent in drawing, painting, etc. Now, with that talent and love or art being fostered and encouraged….who knows where her artistic journey will take her, as well as her discovery of a new way to express herself. Outside of me being so pleased with her talents….I’m even happier that she gets to feel like she can share a small amount of all that she has going on inside her, put it down on a canvas and show it to us….and I know the happiness that brings her when my husband and I recognize and celebrate that. I see HER in her paintings and I am happy to share them with all of you.

Having an autistic daughter is wild. She is the most interesting thing about me, and she challenges me daily to see outside the box of a typical lifestyle, and one’s personal interaction with the world surrounding them. One day she may never want to paint again, but for now she keeps creating and I am here for it.

Thank you for reading her story and for supporting her art. You are not only sharing her art with the world, you are supporting Autism.

Xoxo

Ashlynn