Weekly Mind Sketch

My daughter turned 13 last week - YIKES!  Where does the time go, and what is all this talk about teenagers being so difficult?  I guess I will find out soon enough (if at all)!  This is a picture I drew of her that was from a photo taken at a beach in Monterey about a year ago.  I liked the easy going feeling of the hair flowing in the wind, and her happy, relaxed expression.  I hope I captured that in the drawing. There is definitely a change in how my daughter behaves versus a year ago.  Besides having a TON of homework this year, she is more strong-willed, and more independent, and takes longer to choose what she is going to wear each day!   But this is all very innocent, and not difficult to handle (the homework seems to be the most difficult part).  Last week, I gave in and gave her a cell phone.  I hope this was a good decision.  There will definitely be limits on how much time she spends on the cell phone with friends, but  I think being able to get in touch with her as s

Self portraits. So I think every artist has done one.  Since it was my birthday yesterday I decided I would draw a self-portrait in honor of that.  I took a picture of myself in a window reflection from our backyard and decided to draw this reflection.  To me, this symbolizes a personal reflection of my own life this past year.  I liked how my hand was on top of my head making me look a little more perplexed (as if I'm thinking about my own life and what I have done). The picture was done in pencil, and then I took it into Photoshop and added more of a sense of reflection by using one of the filters which enhanced the reflection even more.  I thought it was a nice effect! To reflect on my life last year makes me think I should have done a lot more than I did in terms of helping others, being more patient, and being less stressed about things that I had no control over.  I will want to work on lots of things this next year. Prayer is a big part of my life, and that definit