Hand Drawn Sketches.

This time of year I’m scrambling to squeeze in a little photo session of my family so I can knock out my Christmas cards as early as possible. Which pretty much never happens. I’m generally rushing at the last minute to put them together, get my address list updated and cards out before the season is over. Maybe this is my year.

One reason I wait until the last minute these days is because my kiddos are at such a fun, young age and before my very eyes I wake up and they seem suddenly older overnight. I say that to mean that I hate taking the family photos too soon before the season because I love to capture them and their age + wonder at that very moment in life.

As I started thinking about my card this year it made me reflect on how we are capturing them as children forever. One way to do this beyond photography is a bit more old school through sketches and paintings of your children.

I’m so thankful that my mom is an amazingly talented artist who can create just about anything I throw at her (which admittedly is *alot*). For each of the kids 1st birthdays she did these gorgeous pencil sketches of them, forever capturing that special first year for us there on paper. Such a special keepsake that I know they’ll cherish later in life.

When you’re taking your family photos for your own holiday card this year, you may want to consider having your photographer capture a few individual photos of your or your child to keep and later have turned into a piece of art.

While some artists prefer to work with live models to capture the spirit and personality of the person, many work from a photograph so you’ll want to plan ahead and keep in mind the style of art you want at the end of the journey. For example, if you’re looking for more of a traditional oil painting, you may want to go with a sweet seated pose in a little chair in your home in a sweet little smocked outfit. It’s great to do this around age 3-5, generally before your child starts loosing their teeth and still has the essence of childhood in their little face. Mom, get ready.

I love the beauty of a sketch and this gorgeous bust of my Grandmother was passed down to me with a special caption handwritten at the bottom “Cecile Longley, my daughter a drawing.”

I just love this so much because I see the artist has signed it, so I know the text handwritten below was probably added by my great grandmother, who I never had the pleasure of meeting. I love that she probably had this piece commissioned of my Grandmother, who is much older than a child so I often wonder if there was a certain occasion this piece was created to celebrate. A graduation perhaps?

I also have some paper cut silhouettes that my mom had created for me when I was very young, and I did these for the kids as well when they were younger. They’re so sweet and classic.

I’d love to see some of your sketches, painting + family photos from your own family #HEIRLOOMED