"I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained." (Walt Disney)

Remember the days of youth, when you finally finished school and were looking forward to the grown up world? That was a long time ago of me, I know that....

But graduating from high school is truly an accomplishment and something for both parent and student to be proud of. Twelve hard years finally paid it's fruitage. Congratulations to all of our graduates this year!

And you're never to old to love Mickey Mouse as this young lady testifies to, hence the extra "graduate" hanging from the corner...:-)

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young." (Henry Ford)

This is an older couple that I know and love. They truly personify the quote above. Although they may have a few years on me, they are some of the "youngest" people I know. Always busy, never using any excuse, even when justified, to be an obstacle. They are younger than many young people I know and a truly good example.

This picture I drew, is actually from two different photos, before they were married. Both were 18 and had that bright outlook  that youth have. Years later they still do...

"Life began with waking up and loving my mother's face." (George Eliot)

Motherhood - a new beginning. I remember not being able to wait to meet my child. I read every book ever printed on pregnancy, on babies. Each time...Somehow it made the time go faster until I meet him or her face to face for the very first time. It was truly an exciting time.  Talking to, reading to, singing to my baby. Bonding.

Pregnancy is a wonderful miracle, producing someone new, half you and half daddy. Although mine always looked more like him, my body did do most of the work, right?

"It's a great mistake, I think, to put children off with falsehoods and nonsense, when their growing powers of observation and discrimination excite in them a desire to know about things." (Anne Sullivan)

The thing I love about drawing children is that natural curiosity they have in their eyes. They are constantly looking at things that we see everyday and take for granted, with curious, open eyes.

I wish sometimes, that in the hustle and  bustle of life, we all could continue to look at every blowing leaf, crawling bug, falling rain drop, with that same excitement and appreciation. Life would be so much better...

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see." (John Burroughs)

Today I spent my day, giving something to a dear friend who has given me so much. I drew a portrait of her deceased husband. He died 2 years ago. The picture shows him the day after their wedding. He has such a sparkle in his eyes. I was trying really hard to capture that. I am happy to say she really enjoyed it.

"I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity." (Albert Einstein)

A hundred years ago, when I met my husband, he was this handsome man in a uniform. He's still handsome though, just a little older. When his mother died, one of his sibling dug up this old photo of him. I just had to record this to history, the fact that he was this young once. Sorry baby :-) Because our kids think we were never young and that if we were, it was so long ago that not even an elephant would remember. There, this is the evidence. He was 20 in this picture.

"My father always wanted to be the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding and the baby at every christening."( Alice Roosevelt Longworth)

I always love to look at brides on their wedding day. So happy and radiant. And then he leaves the toilet seat up... (I've been married for almost 25 years, so that's a lot of them :-)

Anyway, I loved drawing this picture that I found of a random bride, because she looks so contemplative. All jokes aside, marriage is a serious thing, and you should be in it for the long haul.

Hope you enjoy this picture!