For the Love of Creating

As a kid, I used to draw a lot.  My Dad was an Artist, a painter.  I would keep him company in his studio while he painted and I would draw.  Drawing left me for some reason.  It went away and I grew older and it totally left when I went to college.  Sure, I draw a little for my paintings but I don't sketch, I don't just sit and draw.  I was talking to my Mom about this a few weeks ago - that I don't draw anymore.  She was surprised because of the countless drawings I had done growing up.  The great ones hung on the fridge - the others were in stacks until there was enough to bind in a notebook.  I had books of drawings.  I had drawings on my bedroom walls.   My Dad would buy a ream of paper just for drawing.  It sat in his studio next to a jar full of pens, a box of charcoal and sharpened pencils.  As a kid, I wasn't allowed to have coloring books - I was to draw my own.  So that's what I did.
  
My Mom came up with the great idea - "why don't you challenge yourself to draw everyday for a month and then reward yourself with a prize - but only if you have a drawing for each day".  Isn't Motherly wisdom wonderful?  Well, great idea, but I fell flat after three days and put the sketch book back on the shelf to sit again. No prize.

Last night I was tinting some pages in my travel journal.  I like to keep a travel journal and I like to write on water colored pages.  They are simple - just tinted with color a few random shapes.. nothing, really.   I painted this tree.. why?  No clue.  It was just put in loosely with water color and really didn't look like much.  Then I grabbed my favorite ink pen and the magic started.

My Dad and I used to draw in this kind of style.  We would put in loose watercolor shapes and then spend time outlining with a pen the shapes and creating textures with line - creating the drawing and the detail as how we felt in the moment.  It was like he was sitting there with me - like old times, just the two of us, drawing.  I haven't done a drawing like this in years (a really very long time).  When the drawing was complete, I just sat there and stared at it.  It was like - wow, I remember - but what really got me was - wow, how did I forget?  Its like something shifted, something happened. It was magic.  It was the joy of creating.