Drawing Your Child

In my next four blogs, I’m going to go over some great ideas I got at some of the workshops given at the Compassionate Friends Conference July 2-4. My first idea deals with doing a freehand pencil drawing of your child to always treasure.

Let me emphasize you do not have to be artistic to do this. The finished product will definitely be an unbelievable likeness that you can show to others and/or display in your home.

Make an 8 x 10 Xerox copy of a picture of your child’s face. (You can also do a 5 x 7 Xerox.) Do a one inch square grid in pencil over the copy of the 8 x 10 or a ½ inch grid over the 5 x 7. Then take a clean piece of paper, make an 8 x 10 or 5 x 7 box and start copying wherever you want on a clean sheet of paper. Inch by inch, square by square, you are copying a particular feature of the face that is in that one inch square grid. It is such a small space you are working with, that it will be easy to follow the lines and shadowing.

When you get to the eyes, nose and mouth, you might want to take two 1 inch squares and do together, if easier to make a smoother transition. Or you can still continue with the 1 inch at a time. The teacher was always there to help the parents who became a little frustrated, but mostly she traveled the room and encouraged everyone to keep going, knowing it would turn out well. This is a technique that dates back to the Egyptians and is an excellent way to draw a likeness of a picture.

“Drawing and painting my daughter after she died made me feel like I was still with her,” said Jeneane Lunn, teacher of the class. “When you draw something, you are able to see it more clearly. Participants are both surprised and pleased with how well they turn out.”

As I walked around the packed room of almost 100 people, each parent was very immersed in what they were doing and trying to be very precise. It felt almost like an important goal they were aiming for to honor their child, and I was simply amazed at the likeness of the actual picture and the drawing each participant made. At the end of the session, you could see these smiling parents proudly sharing their work with others in the room and amazed at how well the drawings turned out.

No matter what the results, you will appreciate the time you get to spend drawing your child and the way it will make you feel closer to him/her.