One of my four kids adores art. I adore him for this and want nothing more than to encourage and support him. One on one time with each of my kids can be challenging to carve out, but with my budding artist we always have something in common. We like to have "art dates" where we pick a location, set a time limit, and both draw the same thing. Every so often we are lucky enough to spend time in a beautiful spot like the Self Realization Fellowship Garden where we spent a solid hour drawing the same bench and surrounding scene. I was so impressed by his sketch and can't wait to take him out again! Usually, most of the time, our art date will be spontaneous, in our kitchen and the assignment is something quick: draw the toaster in ten minutes. We set a timer and when it goes off, it's pencils down no matter what. Then we take a step back from our work and look to see how we did, laughing about things that maybe we're not thrilled with, and ooh-ing and ahh-ing about what impressed us about each other's work.

Sharing time with  him like this is an experience I adore as a mom, bonding over the creative process and helping him learn to sit with his own frustration. I have learned so much about myself by parenting him. He competes with himself, and sometimes I see the adult mind trapped in the kid's body. He's a paper crumpler, meaning he does a sketch or painting or sculpture and immediately isn't satisfied and wants to tear it to shreds. I can relate to the feeling! It can be so hard to see sense that you see clearly but not yet have the skill to represent your vision with 100% clarity to others. I feel it's my job as his mom to help walk him through that frustrated feeling until he can accept that it's part of the process. He's 12 now and I'm pretty sure he's approaching a maturity level where he will make great strides in the next few years. I continue to tell him to destroy whatever work he wants to, but that sometimes keeping work around that you're not happy with is a great way to look back and reflect on the journey. Sometimes it's a great confidence boost to your future self!

Growing up, I was told that art was never anything more than a hobby and that in order to be successful an adult needed to have a "real" profession. Fast forward into mid-life and many, many things have shown me how absolutely untrue this statement is. Art can be a very real, grown-up profession that won't automatically leave you homeless or bankrupt. There is room for creative people. Probably, there is more of a need for us now than ever before.

I suppose I love drawing from life because it reminds me to slow down, to practice seeing things for what they are instead of what I *think* they are. What I see is the next generation of creative thinkers, hopefully taught to function in the current version of the world, but with a mind and heart strong enough to participate in shaping the future, not shy away from the challenge under the umbrella of "but I needed a real job".

Stay weird.

Love,

sketchy_mom