Week 22 // Making Art Everyday // Year Two • Bardot Brush

Week twenty-two

Our new little baby is three weeks old now. He’s still so tiny. Looking at a photo of him from near his birthdate and now, he might not seem very different. And yet he’s grown. I can feel it in my hands when I hold him. He’s weightier and starting to fill in. I feel it in the cadence of each new day. He’s becoming more alert, and patterns in his routine are beginning to emerge. Even though it’s only been three weeks, there have been tiny developments, and those small changes feel huge. That humble progress tells me that the never-ending nursing, the interrupted sleep, the constant analysis of his habits, the worry, the frustration, the fatigue, even the pain, have been worth it. He’s growing.

Growth doesn’t happen all at once. It happens little by little, sometimes so slowly you can’t see it. Until you look back one day at how things were weeks, months, or even years ago, and you can say to yourself, “wow, look how far we’ve come.” It goes by so slowly and so quickly all at the same time. It requires patience and persistence.

When you are working toward something and only a small amount of time has passed, you may not be able to see the growth that is happening…but you can feel it. You can feel progress in your mind and in your heart and in your hands. Every day you put forth effort towards a goal, every day you provide it nourishment, means you are moving forward little by little. And we all know the journey happens one step at a time.

What to Do

I often direct you to look back and check in with your progress, not because I couldn’t think of anything better to tell you (though with “newborn brain”, that might be true in this case), but because I think it’s SO important. Feeling like you are making progress, like your time and effort is having an impact, is one of the best motivators to keep going. So look back at the you-of-the-past and compare that person to the you-of-today. Observe your growth and keep making the tiny developments that add up to big changes.

May Prompts

OBJECTS + DECADES

What up home skillet?! I hope drawing inanimate objects doesn’t have you totally buggin’ out yet. I give you mad props for sticking with it. Welp, we’ve got one week left. You really thought we could leave out the ’90s from this par-tay? As if! Put on your dopest mix CD, grab your favorite scrunchie, and put some new batteries in your pager, ’cause this decade was all that and a bag of chips! Let’s draw the ’90s!

Week 22 | may 25-31

the 90's

Mon: phone
Tue: toy
Wed: walkman/discman
Thu: shoes
Fri: computer
Sat: lunchbox
Sun: candy

You can access each week’s prompts, with links to reference photos, at makingarteveryday.com

Making Art Everyday // Bardot Brush

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