A while back, my sweet daughter put a sign up on my bedroom door, This is what it said: “Lessons by Madalyn in her room”. Now here’s where it gets embarrassing. I’ve walked through that door, (and in so doing by her sign), way too many times and barely even glanced at it. Finally one evening recently I stopped and took a good look at that sign. As I read it, I realized how excited she would be if I went and asked her for a lesson.
Thankfully her room isn’t far away, just down the hall in fact, and I was able to Inquire Within if Lessons were still available.
(For the record, I was right in guessing she would be excited!) We scheduled a Lesson for the next day and off I went to bed.
The next day, she was sure to remind me I had signed up for a “Lesson by Madalyn in her room”. I was sure to remember so I wouldn’t let her down.
I really didn’t want to let her down. (Mom guilt is the worst!)
Something you should know about my sweet girl is that when people ask her what she likes to do, she says art. This is because what she likes to do is Art. She loves doing art projects and painting and drawing and making things. She’s our little Art Girl.
With that in mind, I was not at all surprised when it was time and I asked what my lesson was on, and I found out it was going to be a combination lesson of drawing and watercolor painting. She had the whole thing planned out and was ready to go.
The Good and the Beautiful released a “How to draw Trees” book a few months ago, right before Christmas and I knew it would be the perfect gift for her!
This is our copy. It’s already been well loved.
Also for Christmas, one set of grandparents signed her up and paid for a watercolor animals class on Outschool. So naturally she decided to use her latest drawing book and her newly acquired watercolor painting skills for our lesson. 😊
She had taken the time to set things up and had a tree picked out she wanted to teach me how to draw and paint. She patiently showed me step by step how to draw the tree. She then showed me tips and tricks for basic watercolor painting. She also mixed colors for me to get different shades of green. And while we drew and painted we chatted. Just the two of us plus her baby brother who was sleeping.
I was quite happy with my Lesson and my final painting as well. I kept things basic this first time but I see why people enjoy watercolor painting. It was very relaxing!
Her painting was beautiful and much more detailed then mine even though she kept stopping to help me.
May or may not be a biased mom here, I know but: I loved it!
We discussed it as we finished up and we decided “Hey! Lets do this more often!” so every few weeks I get to have another “Lesson by Madalyn in her room.” I’m so excited!
Now will either of us ever be famous artists? Probably not. At least not me. She might be someday.
What was really the biggest lesson of the day though was the reminder of how special it is when we take time to spend with those that matter the most. Could I/should I have spent that time doing something else? Maybe. There’s always chores that need to be done when you’re a mom and the baby is sleeping… and Saturdays typically are my only day to get certain things done. But that sweet girl won’t be 9 forever so I’ll take that memory to look back on over the folded laundry (that would have only been temporary anyways) any day.