Art in the Spring

April-May 2018

Despite my love for coloring, crafts and art, Abi has never been very captivated by it - until this spring. She suddenly decided to start drawing and would actually sit and fill an entire notebook in one sitting. I finally understand how amazing it is to have a child who self-entertains, however briefly! It was heaven for a while! Aside from the glorious break I got while Abi drew, the other completely enjoyable part of this new hobby was watching the process of her drawing develop. This is fun! Enjoy this post!

She started enjoying sidewalk chalk more than she ever has. Our nice spring Texas weather had much to do with that I'm sure. Audrianne followed her example and enjoyed scribbling on the cement as well. I love seeing them play side-by-side together! They are going to be amazing friends someday!

Playing outside

All the kids got some art supplies - markers, crayons, notepads - for Easter and they loved having an activity they could do all together.

Hyrum and Audrianne learning to draw

Abi finally enjoyed coloring! This is really huge, people! She has never enjoyed it; she can't seem to sit still long enough. I'd normally have to encourage her to do more than a quick scribble, but suddenly she loves it and sits to color for a decent amount of time. After so much therapy this child has gotten for developmental delays, having her hit this developmental milestone is so exciting to me for Kindergarten readiness and so many other reasons!

Abi coloring

In April, we went to an Author and Illustrator fair in downtown San Antonio. These guys were there which was fun for Abi since she had just seen Disney's Coco.

Our favorite Mariachi band

There were plenty of opportunities to draw and color at the fair. This picture shows how organized Abi's scribbling has become...

Drawing at the author fair

Abi found some fun new books at the fair second-hand book sale.

Reading her new book

And then three days later, she began drawing people. Seriously, this was so fun to watch her skills develop and so rapidly! I love being Abigail's mother!

She is drawing people now!

I love watching her draw

And this picture is not an announcement. Haha! But it IS one of my favorites! We have been trying to explain Abi's adoption to her and how babies grow in their mommy's tummies, so she drew me with a baby in my tummy. I'll take that!

Abi drew this picture of me...

A week after she began drawing people, she developed her own unique style for drawing. I couldn't figure it out at first, so I had to make a point to sneakily watch her. It's fascinating! She just pokes the marker quickly all over the page making dots everywhere; then she connects all the dots, usually with another color. And then she picks somewhere for the eyes to go and draws in legs and sometimes arms. She has created such fun characters this way - I actually want to frame some of these! Check out these fun personalities on these creations!

Her unique drawing technique

Finished product

Showing off her creation

Do you see her technique?

These kids always want to join her. I learned this trick from Katie - I gave them a piece of construction paper, water and a paint brush and let them just wet the paper with their brushes. They think they're painting and it's so clean and easy to pick up.

True water painting