I’ve been trying to expose Clara to more avenues of artistic expression. She is a very creative child for sure, but she is also a very practical child. Very meat and potatoes. Well, mostly just potatoes actually. I guess what I’m saying is she is very good at drawing potatoes. And she is quite content to just draw potatoes on everything all the time, forever. So, I’ve been wanting to help her move beyond potato drawings and expand her abilities.

She has a pottery simulator that she plays with on my phone. I try to spend a few minutes before work each morning sitting with her in our big chair together while she creates pots and decorates them with stickers so they look like something from ancient Greece, and Rome, or something Native American or Egyptian. She enjoys the personal time, and has become quite good at using the tools to create what she wants to in the game.

The way the game works is that after making a pot you put it up for auction and sell it for points that you can then use to buy more stickers and pottery supplies to use later. I believe she likes this economic aspect of the game almost as much as the pottery creation portion.

The other day I left her alone while I brushed my teeth and when I came back she was making a special pot she had designed and was quite excited to introduce me to. It was as tall and wide as she could possibly make it. Simply a large cylinder. Then she put two handles on the top and decorated it from top to bottom with a dark green Egyptian scallop pattern. When she was done, she sold it on the market for a decent profit and then began to make an identical pot.

“Why are you making the same one again? You should make something different to sell this time. Experiment with new shapes and colors maybe.” I told her.

Without looking up she replied, “But people like these. They can use them more. They are Egyptian trash cans.”

So, now, every morning, we get together on the big chair in the living room and we take turns making Ancient Egyptian trash cans which we sell on the virtual auction market. We make a good business.

We are back to potatoes again. But, I have come to terms with this. People often talk about the starving artists. You have never heard anyone ever refer to the starving potato salesman.