For Ronnie and Nancy

It's been over ten years since I drew something that wasn't a quick stick-figure sketch of a design for something else, or a floor plan for the furniture in the apartment. This is the result of being out of practice and a bit squishy on technique, but it was fun to noodle around a bit with different colors than my usual black and white. I did this using wax pastel crayons on plain sketch paper with a bit of texture to it.

My brother-in-law is my favorite artist. I can remember as a teenager being stuck inside on yet another rainy weekend chatting over a cup of tea with my sister, while he doodled in a stream-of-consciousness fashion snippets of our conversation. Everyday events offered their own opportunities to create, and inspiration found everywhere. Getting hopelessly lost touring a historic cemetery became a theme for my sister's film project. Cooking on a limited budget meant never following a recipe. A school holiday meant accompanying him to the printmaking shop at university to try my hand at printing my own sketch off of a metal plate, while he finished an etching for a class assignment.

My sister was brave enough to know art was her future, and smart enough to know what path to take. She had a strong affinity for print and publishing and became a graphic designer. She is by nature a very practical person who is unafraid to admit when something doesn't work and make whatever changes necessary to grow. When she and her husband started their business print was still the main market for her gifts. They made the leap to web design and other electronic forums when that area was still largely unknown to the rest of us, moving to the West Coast to pursue their dreams.

To say these folks are my heroes would be an understatement. I am trying to make more room in my life for all those amazing things I experienced with them and with their encouragement. For anyone who doesn't have time for it, that sketch took ten minutes. Shut the TV off, put the phone down, and do some creative procrastinating. It's fantastic! And I don't use exclamation points lightly.