Every spring my daughter finds a big green caterpillar. She takes care of it, bringing fresh greens daily and perfect sprigs where she can attach and form into a chrysalis. Couple of weeks later we are all rewarded with the sight of a beautiful butterfly. First time she witnessed it, she said excitedly: "I created life!" She was little then, but we didn't forget it... so every year my dh and repeat her words.
For some reason I was inspired to grab a huge (extra very big) piece of paper and graphite and give myself 15 minutes to come up with something... There was a time when anything bigger than an ATC (2.5 x 3.5") was too big for me. Not today... I took a picture with my hand in it so that you can see how big this was. I started with no expectations, drew fast, had fun smudging...
Then I decided to add some color... but just before I started my dh returned from work. I had another quick idea - I grabbed the poor man and put some pastels in his hand and told him to color whatever he wants. After a puzzled look he started adding green to her hair (she loves coloring parts of her hair green and my dh and I don't like it). Then he turned loose with the background... and soon we were both having fun with it. At the end we called Hana to add her touch (she added more green in hair).
It was great! It took less than 30 minutes from start to finish and made my heart smile. What a great way to finish a Friday... and a sign that the weekend will be perfect. Hope that your weekend is perfect too.
I woke up with an itch to hold a brush... and realized that I don't have a canvas or a journal. What to do? Find an old painting that you don't like and paint over it. I didn't paint over everything, just did a makeover on the girl. Her face bothered me for the longest time, so I painted a new one and gave her a new haircut. You can see the 'original' here. Does it look better to you?
Every spring my daughter finds a big green caterpillar. She takes care of it, bringing fresh greens daily and perfect sprigs where she can attach and form into a chrysalis. Couple of weeks later we are all rewarded with the sight of a beautiful butterfly. First time she witnessed it, she said excitedly: "I created life!" She was little then, but we didn't forget it... so every year my dh and repeat her words.
For some reason I was inspired to grab a huge (extra very big) piece of paper and graphite and give myself 15 minutes to come up with something... There was a time when anything bigger than an ATC (2.5 x 3.5") was too big for me. Not today... I took a picture with my hand in it so that you can see how big this was. I started with no expectations, drew fast, had fun smudging...
Then I decided to add some color... but just before I started my dh returned from work. I had another quick idea - I grabbed the poor man and put some pastels in his hand and told him to color whatever he wants. After a puzzled look he started adding green to her hair (she loves coloring parts of her hair green and my dh and I don't like it). Then he turned loose with the background... and soon we were both having fun with it. At the end we called Hana to add her touch (she added more green in hair).
It was great! It took less than 30 minutes from start to finish and made my heart smile. What a great way to finish a Friday... and a sign that the weekend will be perfect. Hope that your weekend is perfect too.
-9"x12" on watercolor paper-
What to do when you feel restless and don't want to paint? Bake.
Last night I dreamt that a black panther crossed my path and was probably preparing to attack me... I really don't want to go to bed now. Maybe I'll start a new journal page...
... and some days I have to surround myself only with tender and delicate things, people and music.
