Life.Learning.Doodles… are Heck Awesome!
hand drawn pieces of whimsy
Well that was fun!! I don’t know about you but I have a serious love hate relationship with Christmas. This year my procrastinating tendencies caught up with me and honestly I didn’t handle it oh so well. There may have been some anxiety and stress. In the end, as always we I got through it and I was able to look back at it all, laugh, smile and see all the fun we had!!
This is just a glimpse at some of the crazy fun I had!!
“Mommy come color with me,” Francine asks after dinner.
“I’m sorry sweetie mommy has tons of chores I need to do. You can color and I’ll come when I am done.”
I turn to see an understandably frowny, disappointed face. My hands reach for the sponge and the next plate that needs to be washed. The kitchen is suddenly silent.
“Mommy what can I do to help you finish your chores faster?” Francine inquires
After lifting myself off the floor in shock…
I turn to Francine and smile, “Really, you want to help Mommy?!”
“Yes, Mommy,” she smiles and says in the sweetest and most sincere five year old voice.
“OOOOOkaaaay. You can start by helping make the lunches.”
As I rinse the last dishes, move on to the load of laundry that needs to be washed and the other one that needs to be folded Francine puts pretzels into sandwich bags. I send out reminders of what to do next from the laundry room. I pick up my pace, working faster to get these chores done so I could sit and color with her.
With time left to spare and a couple of chores left for later, because seriously how can I possibly let down a little girl down who is willing to help Mommy with chores. It was time to color!
I still never know what is going to happen when I craft or color with my girls. I am constantly inspired by them and blown away by their imaginations. This night at the table was no different. After taping together and coloring two cardboard toilet paper rolls and a paper towel roll (don’t ask… she’s five… it’s her vision. I don’t ask) we did some free drawing. After doodling a bit the pink crayon called for me. My mind took me back to a note I had made for myself months ago. My hand faught me. I had never been any good at drawing with crayons. Before I know it the crayon is in hand, obeying my movement and Fred was born.
Fred has dreams…big pink accessorized, leotard and legwarmer dreams. Dreams of toes pointed, tutus and twirls and pirouettes…
My daughters inspiration does not end here…
I seriously can not tell you how incredibly..oozing with excited I am for the coming weeks. My daughters… Olivia 7 and Francine 6 are going to start joining me here! They are going to take their picture, drawings, stories and life experiences and start to share their words here too!
I can hardly stand the wait… the wait for Olivia to share her words with you. Her illustrations will take you to fantastically magical worlds that intertwine her life’s experiences with creatures, superheros and magical worlds of her imagination.
Francine is also excited to share. A little of this, a lot of that and who knows what else?! She loves to help me cook and bake, but dislikes almost everything she helps me make. She can even show you which exact tooth is her sweet tooth. She is colorful, crafty and is always looking for the next thing to make out of anything she can find. I really never know what fantastically crafty, imaginative creation she will cook up.
Creativity is oozzing! We have so much more to share!
I am not actually much of a Valentine’s Day celebrator. It is however an excuse to make cards, eat candy and for me draw Moose and cupcakes!
What is not to like about that!
Today Moose wanted to make sure your Valentine’s Day was just right! He brought you balloons and a cupcake!
Continue reading “The Cupcake Made Me Do It…Valentine’s Day”
Friday night twitter introduced me to a whole new wonderful social media medium.
6 seconds of magically looping infinite addicting fun!
…and I am IN LOVE!!!
It is called Vine.
Vine is an iOS mobile service app that lets you create and share beautiful, short looping videos. It’s life in 6 seconds of looping motion. To me it is a fun and whole new way to share life with video and I can not wait to see where it goes! Here are a few of the ones I have made so far…
Saturday Night beverage
I am having just so much fun drawing this guy. I call him Moose. As much as I love… I mean LOVE naming things and want to give him a fantastically, hilariously, goofy name…Moose seems just perfect. Today Moose has gotten into the cupcakes. The only way to save those sweet treats is to give up a kiss!
For the last few weeks I have struggled to find balance between writing and drawing. I often only have time for one, but I love both. I absolutely love that I have both of them as creative outlets. Today I bring you Moose. Throw in a holiday cupcake and some bubbles and…well…so much fun!!!
Two things have been on my mind and I suspect the minds of many others this week….
the weather and Halloween.
So while I have few words to share right now I do have a couple of more drawings.
To all of my friends and family on the East Coast I think of you often, wishing and hoping that the storm and the weather will pass swiftly leaving you, your family and your home safe.
To all of my friends resisting the nightly call of the Halloween candy summoning your name from inside the cabinet, telling yourself you won’t eat any tonight…. it is for the kinds.
Happy Halloween!
Everyday my daughters create something. They draw, they paint, they glue, they color. Their imaginations over flow with inspiration. They write lists, they author stories, they draw pictures of their day, they illustrate princesses and superheros. As they have grown I have worked hard to encourage their infinite inspiration and boundless imagination. It is a piece of them I want to exist and flow through them for the rest of their lives. In the last two months Olivia’s drawings have consistently become fantastic and left me more and more in awww of her ability to go to some other place and share it through her drawings (yes, total and complete mommy bias).
Suddenly I found myself looking at the world in a very different way. Maybe instead of writing about a memory I could draw too? Maybe instead of taking a picture or sharing words I could share an emotion or thought through drawings. Could I? Could I turn a vision, a thought, an idea into a drawing? So I found a great app on my iPad, bought a stylist and I began to draw….and draw and I drew some more. I began to study my daughters drawings. I watched the details they added. I took notes on their feelings. I remembered how they were inspired. And then I drew some more. Soon I started to find my own style.
After months of studying them and drawing my own pictures I realized it was time. It was time to share my drawings with other. Actually let other human beings (not just my daughters…who are totally bias. I could draw a wiggly lopsided stick figure and they’d say that’s beautiful mommy!!) I channeled a pinch of whimsy and a cup of sweetness and drew for someone I knew would love my art even if it sucked. With a million nervous knots in my stomach I hit the share button…
and when no one told me my drawing was awful I drew some more. Today I find myself with a brand new creative outlet.
I LOVE TO DRAW.
While I am still terrified to share my drawings with others I love it too much to let my new found love be effected by what others think. So today I start what I hope will be the first of many, many, many more inspired illustrations.
I owe this new found passion all to my daughters!
