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Drawing Together

Being able to tune into Adobe MAX online this year has been an absolute treat. Loved too many of the sessions to specifically call out. But listening to Wendy MacNaughton, prompted me to sit in one of her classes though I am not her target demographic. For a little while, it took me back in time to my own childhood when I took drawing classes on Sunday mornings. My teacher brought his two kids along to class so they learned along with us. The youngest was my age and quite a proficient artist. But his father never gave him any special attention or credit. He was just one of the kids he was teaching. Mr. M taught us all to look and things with love just as MacNaughton says. We went outside where we could sit under the shade of a tree and draw its trunk. 

Through his eyes, I learned to appreciate the character of gnarled tree-trunk, respect the work nature had done over time to create this giant thing of beauty that stood unassumingly outside our classroom. We drew leaves in spring time when they were shiny, young and green. Mr. M showed us how to mix colors to get the shades of green that looked close to what nature had made. When autumn came, we would draw the dry leaves much the same way. Mr. M's oldest was already in college and we were all in awe of her. She loved to draw faces and just about everyone in class had pencil sketch of their face she had done at some point. Seeing our faces in the way that she saw us was fascinating. I remember feeling I was looking at someone familiar but still a relative stranger when I saw my face in her notebook. There was something she had captured that gave me pause. I was too young to understand what to make of it. 

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