Drawing ALL THE TIME.

 I used to do it all the time, I mean- when you you are a kid in school- you always have paper and a pen or pencil. I rarely STOPPED drawing. I was drawing when I was supposed to be taking notes. I was drawing in church. I was drawing during tests and on napkins in restaurants and in my room whilst watching Star Trek movies.

And then one day I noticed that I wasn't. I stopped having that pen and paper, and when I did, it seemed like I was pressured to do something SERIOUS with these materials. And thats terrifying!

We went to a park yesterday so my son play a little soccer and so the girls could check out the play structure. I came armed with paper, pens, paint....whatever I could need to put something on paper. I started with a pen- and just started scratching out some trees I was looking at. Its so overwhelming! Where do you start when there is a forest of green. You can't really see any ONE leaf. I just scratched out the mass of one.

Then my daughter came over and asked for a piece of paper. A piece of my good drawing paper. She rummaged through my pencil case and found one of my woodless graphite pencils. "I'm going to draw the trees. And that creek."

And off she went with out an excuse or turning back.

As I was sketching my tree, I could help to put down a little gesture of her.

It's been a while since I've done a pen-and-ink gesture of anyone. I forgot how much I love doing it.

You just make a mess with little lines and specks. Its amazing how well you can build mass and form with just a skinny tipped pen.

She asked if she could use my water colors. I said it was fine, but I'd forgotten water. I had a little left in my water bottle, but then, it started sprinkling- and just that little bit of water gave both of us enough water to color our pictures.

 She got quite bold with the colors.

 The rain drops added a nice effect on our pieces.

 I was happy with my little drawing, and even happier than my little one wanted to join me. I guess I could have just played on the playground with them, but, I think its good for them to see me doing this, and to have them create with me. Right?