Ok, keeping my promise now.
Thanks to Che for posting a serious story which echoes my own (well, mine echoes it I suppose, I am considerably younger than the illustrious Mrs Grimsdale) enough that I won't be tempted to post it.

Suffice to say my parents are both out-and-out mentalists in their own little ways, but both still exhibit classic 'silly parent' hallmarks on occasion- so it is with this in mind that I present a story that may have come from a normal person.

Several of my earliest memories regard being bollocked about the quality of the artwork that I brought home from playgroup and preschool (aged two and a half onwards, I believe).

My father sternly reiterated, over and over, yelling if necessary, that:
-You don't mix colours up in the same area.
-You colour inside the lines only.
-All brush/texta/crayon/pencil strokes should be going IN THE SAME DIRECTION.
-All colours must be realistic real-life representations (I remember discovering a greylead pencil while colouring once and thinking it was the most special thing ever- it was SILVER. So I saved it up and coloured in Tinkerbell with it- as a pretty fairy I figured she deserved this special colour. I believe that that effort actually earnt me a smack).

I really struggled in high school art when we were learning about creating texture and shade by crosshatching and other NON PARALLEL penstroke methods...my little brain just couldn't handle it for the first few months and I lost marks on several ostensibly easy pieces of work because I just couldn't make my hand do it....

:O
(Angie the Redneck Wonder, Thu 15 Mar 2007, 7:30, Reply)