Inspired to Draw

Quick Sketch

inked and colored with Pastels

I've been reading the book,  "Drawing Lab" by Carla Sonheim. The first assignment was to draw cats. Well, I hate cats (sorry all you cat lovers out there) so I decided to draw my little buddies instead. 

The directions were to curl up in bed with a piece of paper and a pencil and spend ten minutes drawing as many cats as possible with the paper resting on a pillow. Ok, so I wasn't in bed when I did this assignment, I was at Wesley's football practice. I have to say, I've got quite the set up on the sidelines. I bring a camp chair for myself and sometimes a kid-size one for Jackson. I roll out a cooler complete with fruit, ice water an other yummy snacks and I always carry my bag of art books and magazines to peruse. Sometimes I even bring Max and Birdie to practice too!


I quickly sketched a bunch of Birdies (she's the one on the right). She was pretty easy and fun to draw. She's so teeny-tiny compared to big ole Max. Max, on the other hand, was a little more difficult to capture. His look evolved quite a bit as I drew him over and over. 


 I've always wanted to write and illustrate a children's story about my dogs. "The Adventures of Max and Birdie." Maybe one day!

Max and Birdie's Morning Walk

Every morning Max and Birdie follow me around quietly watching to see when I put my shoes on. Once they see the shoes come out of the closet, that's it—they know its "walk time"and the barking begins.

Max has walked without a leash for years. He knows the routes like the back of his paw. He sits at every stop sign and waits for my "ok" to cross and turns around to make sure I'm following him. He never barks at other dogs. He just struts along knowing he's free and they are trapped behind their fences or worse, leashed by their owners. His only weakness is cats, but he's more scared of them than they are of him. When he was a puppy a cat clawed him in the face and left one stuck on his snout. Ouch! He's detested them ever since. I can't blame him really. I'm not a cat fan either. (Sorry cat lovers.)

Birdie is my live wire. Since she was a stray, she has no problem prancing off by herself and half the time we have to go looking for her. Stinker! So I've always had her on a leash. But I got smart and started leashing her to Max instead. Genius! It works out great.

So, Max is in charge and I've been reduced to pooper-scooper. But I'm ok with that.