by jove he's got it, a blog post not for the squeamish

My oldest son started PreK last week on his 4th birthday, then he got sick and missed school on Thursday and Friday (cold, a bit of fever.) So I used that impromptu 4 day weekend to do a crash course in potty training. By jove we think he's finally got it.

He had a good day yesterday, stayed dry at school all day with lots of teacher reminders, but then last night when he was playing on the computer, he just whizzed right there on the floor. Ugh!

I use the kitchen timer to remember to remind him at home, and obviously I messed up that time! We are only doing paper pants at nighttime. He has some new superhero underwear. Lord it will be nice not to buy those expensive Pull Ups anymore!

My youngest son will be 2 in October. He's going to go to church preschool 2 days a week for 3 hours each of those days, starting in September. I'm really going to be driving a lot then - delivering kids and picking 'em up but it's going to be nice to have some time to myself.

He is so cute. Every day he asks (er DEMANDS) that I read Hop on Pop, Ten Apples Up on Top, Goodnight Moon, and the Gingerbread Man. I have them memorized. He has a head cold too now, so he has both nostrils running most of the time. (lovely)

Today at naptime, he woke up due to a number two, and apparently was feeling around in there to see what kind of prizes he could find. He had a poopie ball in his hand (and residue...let's not go there) and he was totally freaked out about it and was screaming. I got him cleaned up and he had to be comforted from that mean old poop ball attack.

What am I going to do when these boys are grown,
and I no longer have pee, snot, and poop to deal with?

I don't get grossed out anymore, I just laugh about it all.

There really is an opportunity here for an entrepreneur who could invent a non-permeable, non-staining clothing line for moms.

Portrait in Pencil of Two Brothers

Here's a commissioned portrait of two brothers I did awhile back...as you can see by comparing the photo to the artwork, I moved the boy's positions so it would be a more classic portrait pose, and so the younger boy's head wouldn't cover part of the older boy's face.

I wanted to keep the warm feel of the hand on brother's shoulder, so I left one hand in to show that. It created sort of a 'stair-step' effect in the composition of the portrait. Although the Christmas stockings and fireplace are nice in a photo, in a pencil portrait they would be distracting.

The nice thing about pencil portraits is that I was able to 'zoom in' in effect to the main focus of the photo, the boys - and the importance of their relationship.

The client told me that the family is big Georgia Bulldogs fans - and although I couldn't show the red and black fan colors in the portrait, I put in the younger boy's "G" for Georgia emblem on his shirt. I try my best to take the information that I am given and put it all into the portrait.

More portraits: www.pencil-portrait-drawing-artist.com