Monarch Butterfly

Monarch Butterfly

Today is the Fun Run at school and Victor came downstairs wearing his special Fun Run t-shirt. It had a large imprint of his elementary school mascot, the monarch butterfly. He liked the new shirt and it was no surprise when he chose a monarch butterfly for the snack sack today.

I got the proportions all wrong and had to throw out my first sack. "Sometimes I start things out too big," I explained to him.

"Can you do it in color?"

"No, I don't have time for color," I explained. He was right that it would have looked great in color, but I've resisted adding any more complexity to the project. It already takes me 30 minutes or more sometimes to complete a drawing. Adding color will only make the process more challenging.

This one was harder than I expected with lots of detail on the wings. I found it difficult, as I often to do, to maintain reasonably symmetric proportions. I wasn't too happy with the butterfly and paid extra attention to the branch to help it stand out more in an effort to take some attention away from the imperfections.

He didn't think my cursive 'r' looked like an 'r' and wanted to add his own secret 'r'. I told him to write out his name however he wanted. He did so, twice! He scattered his letters across the wings and put one 'r' on the back of the sack. "That silly 'r'," I said to him, "It's always trying to trick us."

"I think that's the best you've ever done!" he said sincerely. "It's beautiful. I know the girls will like this one." I was pleasantly surprised with the flurry of compliments. "I like the monarch butterfly more than anything you've done. It's the most beautiful thing in the world. Thank you Daddy."