She hears...

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right.”  ~ Henry Ford

Last week we had one of those frantic, rushed, gonna-be-a-miracle-to-catch-the-school-bus kind of a morning. It was getting more and more stressful as the moments ticked away... making the distance between our house and the bus stop seem to loom further and more impossible.

Instead of getting totally crazy I chose to take a breath and calmly said "Relax.. we're not going to make it. Let's slow down and I will drive you to school. Then we have plenty of time."

Ah, but she LOVES the bus, and the social time it affords her with friends before school starts.

"NO!  No, Mom, don't say we won't make it... if you believe it, it will be so. You need to say we can make it! Believe it and we WILL make it!"

OMG! That completely stopped me in my tracks!  I have said this dozens of times to her when I hear declarations like... "I can't do it", "It's too hard", "I will never be able to do this"

I had no idea she was actually hearing me!  And, believing!  It is not falling on deaf ears, as they say.  WOW... what else does she really hear?  Makes a great case to keep repeating all the right things, the things she doesn't seem to hear, the things that will build her up, will help her believe in herself, that will guide her to make good choices as she grows!

PS - She actually did make the bus, just barely and we did have to run full speed sprint the entire way, but she believed we could do it, and she made it happen!!  That is one powerful lesson.

Once Upon a Mermaid

Once upon a time there was a toddler who flitted from activity to activity like a bird from flower to flower. 
Focus was something she rarely showed.
Until the day she saw The Little Mermaid movie.  She was captivated, mesmerized, watching it with almost unblinking eyes. The music and story were magic to her and she fell in love with Ariel and all things mermaid! She wanted to watch it over and over until she had every line (and every song!) committed to memory.

It was the beginning of her love of mermaids, but she took all that she saw very literally.  At 2 1/2 she assumed a mermaid had to have red hair because that is what she saw.  And when she started seeing other movies and other princesses she believed that to be a princess (and to be beautiful) you must have peach skin and yellow hair. 
What she was seeing was starting to define her idea of beauty... and that's when we stepped in!

We tripled the amount of books in the house with princesses, heroines and main characters of color. The Happily Ever After series on HBO became (and remains) a favorite for a fairy tale fix.

On a whim I painted a mermaid girl in her likeness. She was enchanted with the idea that SHE could be the mermaid, and that a  mermaid could look like her!

I continued to create more and more art in her likeness, and we watched her beliefs shift and expand.
The power of exposure.

Praline Pixies

After receiving many requests for my princesses, super heroes, and fairy tale characters on t-shirts I have created a place just for that.  

Introducing Praline Pixies... 
"Here you will find my original watercolor illustrations of young african american and multiracial girls as princesses, super heroes, and fairy tale characters. I am inspired by my daughter who at 3 thought all princesses and beautiful girls had yellow hair and peach skin. I started creating so she - and many others - can see that beauty is not confined to one look.

I believe they have a very positive influence on how young girls see themselves. I have been told by so many clients that their daughter thinks the painting is them. So they get to see themselves reflected as the beautiful princess, instead of a constant stream of images that look nothing like them. 

Life is certainly not all about beauty, but if young girls can grow up appreciating who they are and the beauty that they have, it will help them to grow into strong and confident women. "

My art prints are collected by buyers worldwide, hoping that the t-shirts and fun products available will find homes all over the globe.