MSC archived stories - June 1, 2019
I'm sure you may have noticed this in your children's drawings that they fill the clouds with the color blue – instead of having a blue sky with white clouds, they draw clouds and color them in blue!
For example, (saved to My Media)
Saira's blue clouds (age 14) Adela’s blue clouds (age 17)
By interpreting children's drawings, you discover a deeper layer to what they are thinking and feeling, and also their relationships to the world and to other things.
It could be that..
The Sky looks Blue and the Clouds look White.
The Sky is always bigger and infinite.
To recreate the scenery of the Sky they need those 2 colors.
Painting the Sky blue would require more work and more crayons. Thus, they just paint the clouds with blue which serves to accomplish their purpose of creating a sky scenery.
Would you agree or is there more creative reason than this for it?
You've made an interesting observation! My Delhi children all color clouds blue and leave the sky without color. My only rural W. Bengali child who draws, colors the sky blue and fills it with birds in flight. I track weather daily for both places. Probably 8 of every 10 days Delhi has issued an unhealthy air quality alert. Maybe where there is extreme air pollution skies seldom appear blue?.
ReplyDeleteJune 1, 2019
I too keep their weather updates on my phone (the idea got from you!). To me, blue sky and white clouds symbolize the day sky (can't differentiate in the night sky or with polluted air), far away from us only visible – so children tend to look at them "combined", whereas the objects closer to ground we identify them separate because we can touch, feel – like the trees, grass, houses, water streams, etc. Applying this metaphor to sponsor/child, who live far apart they see each other within themselves when we connect, just like the Blue Clouds!
ReplyDeleteJune 1, 2019
I was pretty sure that all of the children I sponsor (not the youths I sponsor) choose to color the clouds blue, but I checked because you introduced the subject. Yes, the ones under ten did color the clouds blue. Why do they do that? Maybe because they haven't sorted it out yet...skies are pretty complicated. Or no white crayon. I have happily received drawings of purple pigs, orange houses and red choo-choo trains. And just recently a drawing of people with blue hair...
ReplyDeleteJune 1, 2019
My 2nd graders right here in California draw blue clouds most of the time. I think it's just easier.
ReplyDeleteJune 1, 2019
I try not to psychoanalyze the kids’ drawings too much, though it’s hard not to! I’ve studied this a bit in the past, such as the colors, positioning of figures, weather, houses/trees, and so on. I keep my theories to myself and try to keep it at face value. :) For what it’s worth, though, our kids have only trimmed the clouds in blue (white middle), excepting one by John Denver where he colored it in blue. They do like little “v” birds a lot though!
ReplyDeleteJune 1, 2019
Thanks for each one of your fascinating contributions! I can now see that "blue clouds" are a common trait among children of all ages across all continents of the world. I'm not only referring to young children here, but bright youth even have this universal perception. Children have great imaginations, they are just exercising their creative prerogative – that's ok!
ReplyDeleteJune 2, 2019
If you're interested, there is an organization called, The Cloud Appreciation Society [cloudappreciationsociety.org], which aims to foster understanding and appreciation of clouds – [youtu.be/lhP52caGW6s]
ReplyDeleteJune 2, 2019
Right after I read this thread, I went to read the new letter I had from my 10 year old in Ecuador and lo and behold, there in her picture were blue clouds. I think its just a kid thing. Maybe they color them blue to signify the color of the sky without having to spend the large amount of time it would take to color the entire sky blue. Plus, leaving the sky white makes anything else they put in it (like the sun or birds) more distinguishable. If the sky is white, then your clouds can't also be white or you can't see them. Blue would be a natural choice.
ReplyDeleteJune 3, 2019
I remember when I was a kid I did paint cloud blue. I did it because I thought white clouds on white paper isn't a good idea! so I would paint clouds blue! not reasonable but this was what I thought at that age :))
ReplyDeleteJune 3, 2019
Hi April/Sajjad – Yes, children do tend to mix things up which are only visible! If you were to draw a white swan in a blue lake, you wouldn't make the swan blue just because of the white paper (would you?) because we identify them separate by touch and feel.
ReplyDeleteJune 3, 2019