Every Day in May #2- Dancin' Shoes

I was thinking today about how I am grateful in many ways for the opportunities my daughter has had through dance.

Beginning in Kindergarten or so, she started lessons in ballet, and has continued ballet and tap and progressed to pointe last year, five years after she first started.

She does really well in dance, and that's great. She loves it- that's the main thing. Will she make a career out of it when she gets older? Probably not. But I love that she has a positive activity that she can share with her friends at this confusing age, as she readies to enter her teen years.

Dance has made her body strong, has given her a good self image, and has afforded some great opportunities to dance with professional dancers in several versions of the Nutcracker- with the Miami City Ballet two years ago, and with the Moscow Ballet this past Christmas.

I decided to draw her pointe shoes, and tried something new for me here- I didn't pencil in any shapes first- just "went for it" with the Micron 05.

I have definitely been a "pencil and paper" gal myself. Drawing in graphite is my comfort zone, for sure. Hatching and crosshatching are somewhat new for me. Of course, I tried them long ago (you don't want to know how long ago) in college drawing classes, but I have never been a big fan of working that way myself.

Lately though, I gaze in awe at the fabulous pen and ink sketches I have seen in the EDM forums and elsewhere in some of the sketchbook pools on Flickr. It is pretty darn inspiring.

So I have decided that I too want to hatch and crosshatch! Yes! I can do it it! - at least I will try it and give it a go. I found out that it is pretty fun after all, especially when you throw a little watercolor on it.

I'm still behind in the EDinM challenge, and hope to do another sketch of gratefulness tonight. Yep- I'm grateful for the fun of art. Isn't art fun?