Scott Koblish

Ka-Zar

Ah, Ka-Zar.
Again, you can click on any of the artworks here and get a larger picture.
I love drawing dinosaurs, I was obsessed with them as a child - I read everything about them that I could get my hands on - history books, picture books, I knew all the epochs, all the separate ages with different dinosaurs, knew enough to keep a T-Rex out of any story with a Brachiosaur (different time periods, locations) and was really happy with everything I knew about them -until we visited the Natural History Museum in New York and I realized that they were REAL. I flipped out for years, nightmares, night sweats, the whole bit.

I can see a little bit of the same behaviour in Violet - she's always loved to play "monster" and goes "rrrahr!" and runs about, and the other week she wouldn't go into the dark hallway, said she was scared of the monsters. I went down the hallway and turned on the lights and shooed them all away, but I was still struck by how quickly it changed for her -the whole concept of monsters. She wasn't afraid of the dark before, but now she is sometimes. I wonder if it's a sudden acquisition of imagination kicking into gear, or if it's preschool. The kids play "monster" and chase each other around. Maybe it's the addition of the chase, and a chase with other kids, that makes it real for her, I don't know. The kids play Batman and Spider-Man and Superman too, and Violet has somehow gotten Batman and Superman mixed up. I'm thinking the other kids taught her that one too, because when we go to the Comic Shop she points to Batman and says "Superman" and vice versa. I can't get her to change it, so I usually give up.

posted by Scott Koblish @ 1:35 PM