There are only rare occasions where the kitchen table is one hundred percent cleaned off.
Most of the time, at least half of it is full of cups of pencils, markers, pens, different kinds of paper, glue sticks, glitter, stickers... you name it, it is at our fingertips. Making something is as easy as sitting down. Sudden "aha!" moments are easily scribbled and shared.
This summer, we've been lucky to have a lot of backyard wildlife babies. Some of the silliest being the fledgling crows and large hawks, but also the teeny tiny songbirds, and even hummingbirds that fly close and say, "hello." My youngest and I were recently watching Cloud TV outside, and were caught up in some drama unfold between the hawk family and some woodpeckers.
My youngest was so inspired by the antics, she wanted to write a story about it.
So, we ran to the kitchen table, but when we sat down, we both realized quite quick that neither of us had much experience drawing birds!
So off we went to find references! She gathered every stuffed bird she could find, and binoculars, I took down the bird map and spread it on the table.
We began drawing from the references we collected and left them on the table for a week, going back, sketching, and experimenting with bird forms when the moment allows.
At the sametime I've been into these multiple-colored, colored pencils and how they shift from color to color. I like creating colorful birds with them. They are a bit unpredictable, and I like having to work with that.
For me, these kinds of low stress doodles help regulate and keep me feeling calm. I find myself often at the kitchen table, coming back again and again, to add to, fix, and work on the scraps of paper that pile up.
Most special of all, I often find myself doing this with my kids and this kind of parallel play brings me great joy. We collaborate, exaggerate and encourage each other and our creations. It's often silly, weird and good.
Here's some of this past week or so- kitchen table daily doodles:
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