Linda Gee, 35, Dee Why, NSW
My three-year-old daughter, Cassie, and I were at home. It’d be nice for her to do something creative today, I thought.
I’d been painting as a hobby for around a year, so I decided to get out my pots of acrylic paint.
I put a sheet down on the ground and set up a canvas.
Picking her favourite colours, purple and pink, as well as gold and silver, Cassie had a huge smile on her face as she splattered the paint around.
‘Let’s see what you’ve made,’ I smiled when she’d finished, expecting a few splodges and lots of mess.
Instead, I found myself admiring her handiwork. The colours had swirled together beautifully.
‘Wow Cassie, that’s better than mine!’ I laughed. Perhaps she should have art lessons, I thought.
So I posted in a mums’ group on Facebook.
My daughter enjoys art and did this painting today, I explained, attaching a photo of Cassie’s work.
Two hours later, the post had more than 200 likes.
While there wasn’t much advice about art classes, I’d received several admiring comments.
My husband Clinton, 43, and I were blown away by the response.
Did we have our own mini-Monet? we wondered.
The next day, Cassie did some more paintings.
As I watched her making patterns, I wondered if she could repeat her success.
Somehow our pint-sized Picasso knew how to mix colours perfectly. Cassie also loved glitter, so soon our house was shimmering.
Before we knew it, requests to buy Cassie’s paintings were coming in.
So I set up a Facebook page for them, CassieSwirls.
Now Cassie has made more than 25 paintings, and we’ve had requests for 30 more. We’ve also donated three to charity auctions.
We love that Cassie’s work is popular, but most importantly, she enjoys it.
Originally appeared in that’s life! issue 21 – May 26, 2016