Cabin Trip Sketches

It’s all my mother-in-law’s fault

I was talking with my mother-in-law the other day and she chastised me for not updating my blog. I said, “Hey! Lady,” (she likes it when I call her ‘hey, lady’). “Hey, Lady, I’m a boring man. I don’t have anything worth blogging about.” (Yes, I was so upset I left a dangling preposition.) But she would not get off my case, so I said, “Fine! I will put up some sketches or something.” Mercifully, she said, “Good, now put my daughter on!” She’s tough.

Drawing of Ruthie with wet hair

Ruthie asked me to draw her. Of all my children, she asks me to draw her the most. She was funny. She would not stop moving. I told her to keep looking at the same spot. She thought the mile-wide lake qualified as one spot. She was looking over my right and my left shoulder. But she looked back at the same spot often enough that I could catch a likeness.

Maddie on the dock with a smoldering stick

At one point I was in the water with many screaming children when I noticed Maddie on the dock near a stick as she often is, waiting for someone to throw something she might fetch. But this stick appeared to be smoking. I said, “I think Maddie might have a stick from the fire pit.” A closer inspection by Marilyn revealed that her stick was indeed smoking and had burned a brown patch in Roger’s new, very expensive, marine plywood decking. Maddie has since been in protective custody.

Drawing of Edward's frog

Edward caught a frog and put him in a tall pail. I drew him and kept saying to passing children, “Don’t bump the bucket! The frog will move.” (I put my art way above my relationship with my kids.) After I finished the drawing, we roasted the frog over the campfire on a marshmallow stick and ate him. (Really, we let him go near where we caught him.)

How Important Is Sketching?

Little fishes near the dock

I felt like most of the time I was holding a baby or trying to keep her from walking into the lake. I looked forward to the times I could have both hands free to sketch. One morning I abandoned my parental responsibilities and left Lydia clinging to Nikole’s leg as Nikole made pancakes. I stood on the dock and did gesture sketches of the little fishes that spend time near the dock. I don’t think the sketch will win any awards but I am very pleased with it. It represents those rare times when we get to sneak away and be self-absorbed. (And my beautiful wife really gives me lots of opportunities to sneak away to either play with kids or sketch random plants and critters.)

By the way, I really like my mother-in-law, and she is not really abrupt as represented here.