Pencil cup

Pencil cup
Pentax ME
50mm f/1.7 SMC Pentax-M
Arista EDU 200
L110 Dilution E

My son Garrett made this when he was 4 or 5. It’s a pencil cup made out of a tin can with a piece of thick paper glued around it. He wrote his name on it and painted it. I love the way he shaped the g to start his name: a circle and a J-like curve, not connected. You can’t tell because this is a black-and-white photo, but he painted it in watercolors, peach and pink and green.

Garrett also made the fake flower, in the third grade. It’s a pen, actually; his class made them by the score and sold them to raise funds for something I can’t remember anymore.

I used to have a drawer full of keepsakes my kids made. I let a lot of them go a few years ago when I moved out of my last house. It was a little painful to see them go. It was very nice to get that drawer space back.

I will keep a few things, like this. They will stand in for everything else.

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Comments

7 responses to “single frame: Pencil cup”

  1. J P Avatar

    I also have a pencil cup made by a kid on my office desk. Anyone else would see it as a misshapen failure of a ceramic project. Garrett’s cup is an artisanal masterpiece in comparison. But I love it because I know how much he struggled with art projects.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      More a left brainer, eh?

  2. brandib1977 Avatar

    It looks like high art here. :)

    I think it’s more important to have a handful of keepsakes that you really love than a drawer packed full of things you rarely see.

    Love the picture!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I don’t have the space to store it all anyway.

      1. brandib1977 Avatar

        Most people don’t.

  3. Mike Connealy Avatar

    Nicely composed. Looks like you are getting the processing down to a science.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Thanks Mike! I’m getting consistent results now. It’s a relief; I didn’t much enjoy the process of getting here.

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