Playing outside with the kids

This is what I do so that I can be outside with the kids and still have fun at the same time.

  I draw on the sidewalk or my neighbors' driveways.

Sister LOVES to color and draw. I found that sidewalk chalk was a great way for her to express her artistic side in the spring, summer and fall. We regularly have a colorful canvas of children's artwork on our sidewalks and neighboring driveways as soon as the snow melts.

I decided I could join in with her instead of just sitting there watching her and making sure Baby wasn't running off to far.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em... right?

So this was how it started:

The neighborhood kids thought it was the greatest thing ever and I was an instant neighborhood child celebrity. It was fun! I loved that I could make them so happy and impress them with my meager skills. So when spring came, I drew this one:

Then I started having adults stop by asking if I did that and saying they loved seeing it there and it brightened their day. Marc said I should start doing a weekly sidewalk thought. That sounded like fun so I thought I'd do something when I had time enough while being out with the kids.

Then, my neighbor, Brittany, decided she was having so much fun seeing my art appear on the sidewalks she bought me some nicer chalk (not just from the dollar store) and said I could even use her driveway.

So, as a thank you, I did this for her:

That was a lot of work but I was very excited to have done it and see what I could do with more colors.

The next one I did took a lot less time but was specifically to cheer my heart and hopefully someone else's. I hate to say it, but that's really why I do these sidewalk chalk drawings. They cheer me up. That's why they are usually some kind of motivational thought or happy saying.

But this one I just did, is my pride and joy. I asked Marc to take pictures of me working on it so you could get a glimpse of the process.

I'm glad he did because even I don't realize how big the art is till I see these pictures.

I draw in the face shapes first and fill it in, then add the hair, so they look a little creepy at first. I want to keep the whites of the teeth and eyes as white as possible.

I don't add all the details like shines and blushes till the very end, you know, the little nuances that make them look a little more like them.

This whole thing took me 2 hours from start to finish, and that included fixing it a few times after Sister rode her scooter over our faces... literally... on the chalk ones.

Ta da!!