Drawing with Kids - Apply as Needed

Yesterday was the first time in years that it did not snow on the day of my Dad's Winter Family Get-Together! I actually got to drive down to Massachusetts with my daughter and The Fireman and see folks I haven't seen in ages. And to top it off - my Sister and her Hubby had driven down, just for the day, from Bar Harbor!

But the bestest-bestest part was drawing with my little nieces. It's become a tradition. And for an Introvert like me, with party-phobia and a lack of social graces, it gives me a focus and a way to tune out the general overwhelm. And for the nieces, who rarely see me, I can be distinguished from the other relatives as "Aunt Sandy. You know, the one who draws with you."

We started out working on our own drawings, then started passing them around, adding on and trying to out-do each other in craziness!

The Fireman got down on the rug with us and started a few awesome pics too - but I didn't get any photos of them. Bummer.

Then Elizabeth started a project (Exquisite Corpse style) where she cut a piece of paper into flaps and folded it. One of us drew a head on the first flap, then folded the paper over the image and marked the start lines for the neck. Next person drew the neck, folded over, drew the start lines and next added the arms and body, next one did the feet.

When the final drawing was unfolded, we all laughed until we had to go pee!

Then - we did it again!!

The competition got kind of fierce as we started a round of portraits, again, adding to each others images...

The whole experience had us all gasping with laughter. We got quite rowdy... but it also helped me remember WHY I love to draw.

With all the Crazy that tends to pile up and block our creative flow, it's so easy to forget that drawing... especially with kids... is therapeutic. It doesn't HAVE to make SENSE (or CENTS!) It's collaborative, expressive, silly and just plain fun.