A Young Artist Learns to Paint With All the Colors of the Wind

My brother is an artist, so I think he would appreciate Painting the Wind. Written by Patricia and Emily MacLachlan and illustrated by Katy Schneider, it is narrated by a boy, an eager young painter who watches several masters at work during the summer and tries to glean enough inspiration from them in order to achieve his goal of painting the wind.

Each painter is different, with their own preferred materials, methods and models. He shadows the man who rises early to paint flowers, the woman who paints faces at mid-day, the woman who stays up all night painting still lifes and the man who paints landscapes by the choppy waves of the ocean.

I find it interesting that none of the people are named but the dogs are. This makes sense to me. The boy doesn't care about the names of the men and women he watches. What's important to him is what they paint and how. He doesn't strike me as a chatty companion; he might not even want to impose on the painters enough to beg their names. But the painters can't help but reveal the names of their dogs, and not only are the monikers a key way of distinguishing among the pets, they allow the boy a closer connection with the dogs. I imagine he calls to each of the dogs at least once before he parts way with their owners.

The writing style is fairly straightforward, with a vague pattern to it as the boy describes his day with four different artists, carefully noting small details. The dogs seem to reflect the personality of the painters. Sunny Tess belongs to the flower painter, lackadaisical Charlie and eager Emmett belong to the painter of many different face, reticent Owen to the reclusive still life painter and quiet Meatball to the still life painter, who absorbs the wonder of the natural world while escaping the chaos of his family. It's a story about painting, but also about companionship.

The paintings are moody and expressive, sometimes more realistic than others. Usually there's sort of a smudgy look about them, though that is often reduced if the picture is far away enough. The painting style is slightly different depending on the painter the narrator is focusing on.

Painting the Wind is an unusual book that should appeal to artistically inclined children and probably to dog lovers as well. I'd recommend it for a slightly older crowd, 8 to 11 maybe. It might be just the book to provide that essential spark of inspiration.