The Sketchbook

Watercolors, watercolor pencils, plus a bit of water-soluble felt tip pen.

The Sketchbook

A beautiful 80 degree day called us outside to draw, paint, and look more closely at nature. We never knew what sweetgum blossoms looked like! They're very small but delightfully intricate! Much nicer than their spiny, seed-bearing counterparts that drop to the ground in the autumn.

Painting with the kids is always an adventure. The only one who really didn't get frustrated was the 5 yr old, who just sloshed color around without a care in the world. His painting is at the top. He added a few hand-drawn fish, but it was more about playing with color for him. The older kids tried to paint fish, but found the watercolors clumsy and not as precise as the pencils they're used to. I remember feeling that way - so grown up to hold a paintbrush, but then the results made me feel like a toddler! Like many things, it takes patience and practice. Nobody went away in a huff, so I'm confident they'll pick up the brushes again. We'll just paint color and not objects to ward off the frustration. Baby steps.

girls and dolls

I remember drawing paper dolls as a girl with my mom and sister, spending hours holding papers up to the windows, tracing all kinds of wild outfits and dresses for the dolls my mom so graciously drew for us. I still have one of those dolls from when I was about 10, and looking back at the dresses I drew then is a real hoot!

And now my daughter is drawing her own dolls and dresses. When she was younger, I would draw countless "princesses" in their skivvies for her to make clothes for, but now I encourage her to draw her own people. A little creative direction, some new watercolor pencils, and a cup of hot cocoa was all she needed to get rolling. I find that encouraging kids to draw stylized or cartoon people helps relieve some of the frustrations that can develop when they try to get things "just right." Personal expression and style tends to flourish this way, too. Of course, copying someone else's drawing is good practice, too. Confidence builds over time.

We used old cereal boxes with a primer of gesso. After it dried, we put down a light pencil drawing to get the basic shapes, and then added the color. The watercolor pencils are very flexible, a tool I'm still exploring and enjoying immensely. We tried lightly coloring with them then smudging the color with damp paper towels. That seemed too large for the delicate drawings. Cotton swabs were perfect for blending colors and still maintaining control. Outlines and other details were then added with colored pencil, pens, pencil.

Here's her work in progress, complete with green ballgown and hat to match!