Our Saturday: 400 inch sketch

Hello there!

I am attempting to resume with my regular blogging... And for that, I will try to resume the structure of my blog which I defined a long time ago... Since its Saturday... what did we actually do today? How did we enjoy the arrival of Spring? 

Very luckily, not only did we enjoy the colourful blooms popping in the parks, as today there was an event happening at the City Art Gallery in Southampton...:

I am so very lucky that there are so many artistic events child friendly. The 400 inch sketch was one of those. This event had as main goal gather as many people possible o draw together in a 400 inch paper roll. It started in the morning, about at 10am where a workshop was prepared so that anyone that had no experience in sketching could learn a few basic pointers. Since it was morning, me and my littlest guy arrived unsurprisingly late, so we did miss the workshop....

However, the arts material was still readily available for us to ease in into sketching, so we both had some fun drawing together!

I felt a little bit intimidated, my hand is really rusty. I have been trying to draw and sketch more, but there's something that always seems to skip through my hands: time. There are more demanding things to do before sketching and drawing.... There is so much to do every single day for the kids, with the kids, that my hobbies, drawing, watercoloring, sketching is always postponed. 

Both myself and my youngest contributed to this sketching! He does not shy away from crayons, charcoal, pens... He has so much confidence, it always amazes me how this 2 year old little guy is so assertive in what he wants to do, when he wants to do. I do believe that in the end I was only truly able to join in because he lead the way! He just wanted to go towards the big table and dive in with all his passion for drawing! Yes, he is really passionate about drawing.... Everywhere! And so, after some exquisite test drawing, and after I gave up trying to move him away form the table, we did join in with rest of the artists the huge sketch:

It was lovely to see people of all ages contributing to this sketch. The event had a great turnout, and proved how important it is to organise these crafting and arts events. I hope similar events are being planned! Art and the aptitude to express yourself is so very important to young children. It really doesn't matter the 'art piece' produced and crafted, but the fact that you draw, you sketched and you were able to see that you contributed to a final piece validates the hard work that you put on. Overall, it validates your contribution ad improves your confidence.

I also felt that this event also contributed to a sense of belonging to a community. This sketch was a community effort, that only was possible because so many different people contributed to do it. And again I was amazed at all the different people that arrived and joined in. Children, grownups, parents, grandparents! Different ages, different drawing aptitudes...  Yes, there were amazing sketches, but also the most timid ones, such as mine. Also the most bravest and not shy colourful as my toddler's. And all these sketches will forever be merged in a major  a 400 inch sketch! Overall, it was lovely to be there and to be part of this project. 

Unfortunately I was not there until the very end of the sketch, it was running until 14h in the afternoon and there are limits that having a boastful toddler to just do one activity... After a while the amazement that the different oils pastel had ended and he became unrestful. So, after contributing a little bit to the major sketch it was time to go... And we used the fact that we were in the city centre to ramble through the Watts Park and enjoying the colourful spring blooms! He was fascinated by the different colourful blooms. We took our time to enjoy the flowers and learn more about the different colours.

Hello and welcome Spring! It is lovely to see you!

And how was your Saturday? I hope you had some fun too!

xx