The Drawing Game

On the last Friday of Summer vacation, my youngest son, Alex was sitting in our recliner, laptop in lap, chilling out.  It was late.  My husband was asleep.  My eldest son, Aaron, was asleep.  Al was awake.  I was awake too, but only because I was in pain and having taken pain meds, I knew that I would be awake.  Pain meds, while they do take the pain away, for whatever reason, don't make me sleepy; they wake me up.

I was bored.  I turned on the TV and scanned a bit.  I saw that "Philadelphia" was on.  Love that movie.  I started picking up papers and putting them away.  It was then that I came across my sketch pad.  I noticed that Alex was peering over his laptop to view the TV.

"Is this the movie with Tom Hanks and he plays a dying gay guy that gets fired?"  So, we started watching. I pulled my rocking chair closer to the recliner.  I sat next to him.  I was doodling.  I giggled.

"What?"  asked Al.  I handed him my sketch.  He giggled, and then signaled for me to hand him the pen.  He added something, then handed the book back to me.  I nodded.  Smiling, I took the pen back.  I added something.  I showed it to him.  He laughed.

"Oh!"  He took my pen and eagerly began drawing.  Handing it back, he grinned at me.  I looked.  Clever boy!  I grew excited and added my element.

A game was being born.

The very first game we played I will not share, here.  I have my reasons.  Alex too will appreciate this.  Nothing naughty or evil... it's just between a mother and her son, that's all.

Here is our second 'game', played on the same night.  I told him that we should get serious and try to do it the best we could.  He agreed, but I think that took away from our fun, so I said, "Never mind... just draw!"

He starts with an object.  A person.  A house.  A line.  Anything.  Then it's my turn.  I can add to whatever he draws.  It's really cool to literally add to his drawing.  We try to keep that going.  Of course the drawing needs to grow,  so adding an element not attached to anything is fine, too.    Here is our second drawing:

Note the date and the time!  I told you it was late!  We have no plan.  We have no idea how it will turn out.  The very last thing drawn was by Alex.  He drew the steps with the bag of old chips with flies.  He compared this to Jesus' walking on water.  "Well, I'm sure if Jesus was around, he'd skate and skate on water."  Love it!

Our third game was played the very next day:

Now, you get the idea about how different each 'game' will end up!  We both got a bit lost with this game.  We get to a point where we both feel it's fruitless to continue.  This is one of those!

I told him that this is a great way to practice drawing skills and having a lot of fun at the same time.  I can't wait to play again!  Alex is a wonderful artist.  Aaron is too.  I may have to get him to join us in a game!

Until next time,

Keep drawing!