Drawing Circles in the Sun

The following refers to the Grape Lesson in Draw Write Now, Book 2.

When my mother prepared her drawings to show the publisher for the first time, there was one drawing in the stack that caught my eye—a cluster of grapes, simply drawn with rows of circles positioned like racked billiard balls. Grapes by Marie Hablitzel, Draw Write Now, Book 2 I hadn’t seen the lesson in years. My reaction was, “Mom, you made this drawing? I remember drawing this, but not with you.” Holding her drawing in my hand, my thoughts went to a quiet moment on a sizzling hot summer day when I was six or seven years-old:

After cooling off in the wading pool, I used my wet fingers to draw circles on the cement patio. The challenge was to draw four circles, all the same size, lined up in a row. I could make two the same size, but the third was too high or the fourth too narrow. No problem, the circles vanished in the summer heat. I tried again and kept trying, over and over, until I could draw the four perfect circles. With all the practice, I got quicker and had enough time to make a second row of circles—this had to be done before the first row evaporated. It became a race. Draw the line of four circles, then three, then two and one. Hurrah! Oh, the satisfaction when I was able to beat the sun!

It’s memories like this that fuel my passion for Marie’s lessons. The beauty of teaching a lesson is knowing that there are subtle things that will stay with the child, long after the drawing is finished. 

See Marie’s collection of lessons, Draw Write Now.

Curious Drawings

We began working on Draw Write Now in 1992 when my children were four and six years-old. They were immersed in their grandmother’s drawing lessons, and I have to admit that I wondered if all the exposure to the lessons would limit their budding creativity. I got my answer with these two drawings:
Tyler, age 6, “Curious wants to be held by Mom.”I had the flu, and Tyler and I were the only ones home. Sick and not able to watch over him as usual, I heard him go outside and told myself he would return shortly. Just as I was getting worried, I heard him come inside and quietly amuse himself in the front room. A while later he came to my bedroom with this drawing and note. We had chickens, and his favorite rooster’s name was Curious. He had gone out to the pen to get a look at Curious so he could draw the picture.

Michelle, age 8, “Curious”

Tyler holding Curious.Michelle loved Curious, too, and made this drawing by looking at the photo of Ty and Curious.

After making many, many Draw Write Now drawings of dogs, cows, boys, girls, horses and yes, chickens, they had the skills to look at a subject and draw what they saw. I’d say that’s an important skill for a creative child to possess!