Photo of the day-naked guy in charcoal

Ugly naked guy. That's what I titled this charcoal drawing of mine from 1999. I took a drawing class for fun when I worked at the university and had an education benefit to use. While charcoal is so very messy, I really loved that medium. This was also the first time I ever tried to draw people, let alone naked people.

I would love to do portraits of my children. I'd have to do it by night light when they are sleeping I suppose. No one sits still in this house.

And this drawing has a funny story to it. I had it hanging in my "bachelorette pad" and a friend of mine came over for drinks one day after work. She was the kind of person that seemed to know everyone. She asked "Is that Joey?" I said I didn't know they guy's name as it was just a male model from my art class. I said that the guy really smelled and wore jeans that were held together with safety pins in a purposeful sort of way. She said yeah, that's him. It was official. She really did know everyone.

As I sit in our home office which is slowly becoming my creative space (since really, when do we ever use it as an office?) and where this drawing currently resides, I'm reminded how much more balanced my life is these days. Perhaps it's because the babe is so chill is his temperament and sleep habits are great or maybe it's because I realized my mistake the last time around when I gave up too much all at once. Regardless, I feel like I'm reclaiming parts of myself that were on hold for a while. All of my former extracurriculars are back in full swing. It feels really, really good. And a happy Mama makes for a happy family.