Spelling and Other Things to Learn

This past week was filled with highs and lows.  Last Thursday our truck was broken into on our way home from work and I lost my purse and my commute/to-go bag.  I lost quite a bit of my daily life type stuff (luckily all of that can be replaced).  But I also lost my daily “Book of Days” style art journal, my well-loved/heavily written on copy of the book “Life is a Verb,” and some sentimental items like a bookmark that was made in my son’s 3^rd grade class (he’s 16 now).  It’s a bummer to lose a part of myself like that, but it could have been much worse and I know we are very lucky. 

Over the weekend, I finally completed my contribution to the Art House Coop’s “Sketchbook Challenge: Limited Edition.”  I selected the theme “Spelling and Other Things to Learn.”  I struggled for a while with how to tackle this theme and actually started and stopped several times.  After much procrastination, I finally decided to just get back to basics, focusing on creating art that I love and would worry about how to address the theme later.  I had a great time making abstract backgrounds, layering faces, etc.  Eventually I settled on how to incorporate the theme--to explore the important life lessons my son has taught me while I’ve tried to teach him things like spelling, how to tie his shoes, etc.

You can see a sneak peek of the complete sketchbook/lessons on my Flickr page:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/feliciaborges

Eventually it’ll be added to my Art House Coop page here:  http://www.arthousecoop.com/users/feliciaborges (my last sketchbook is there already).  A portion of my sketchbook will also be published as part of a limited edition book series.  Can’t wait to see what they decide to include.  The big payoff for me in this particular challenge was the look on my son’s face as he read the intro and the lessons I included, and of course the big hug after.