the artistic temperament

For a public school, our elementary school does a lot of fine arts stuff that I love. They have an opera singer come in and teach each grade a different opera that they perform, and they have an artist come in and help the kids paint giant murals that line the hallway. It's a great program and the kids look forward to it all year.

This is Caroline painting a flamingo.

The problem is that the artist doesn't seem to really like the kids.

They're KIDS. They smear the paint, they don't stay within the outlines, they think leaves on trees are sometimes hot pink to match the flamingos. And this artist alternately rolls her eyes, says, "Just step BACK and let it DRY so I can FIX it!" and practices deep breathing exercises with her eyes closed.

Perhaps she doesn't know that flamingos with knobby knees and pink leaves and smiling alligators with buck teeth are what make the third-grade mural a third grade mural. Anyone can commission fine art, but who can assemble a group of artists who mix colors that remind them of farts?