We sat near a mother with four children today in a restaurant. I got two quick sketches of the group and later combined the images into the one above.The baby is reaching for mom. The older sister is reaching for her mom’s attention which I conveyed through the sister’s open mouth and slightly worried brow.  You can see from the mom’s body language that she was relaxed despite the demands on her. She paid attention to each of her children, listening intently to each in turn and earned my admiration, which is the message of this sketch.

My focus for deliberate practice today and for the next week or so is to capture ambient light.  I notice in my recent sketches how much the lighting can impact the message I convey and I want to understand how to intentionally use light in my sketches.  I got a bit confused today, putting down yellow because the floor was yellow and purple for the shadows and this somehow made the mood harried. Finally I washed in some pink and the mood lightened.  This may be a sketch I redo.