Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo Bear Cooking Over a Campfire

"Do you want the same one from Yogi that you said you wanted yesterday?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, you're going to have to find it again because I didn't save it."

"Okay, I know exactly which one it is." It was a snapshot of Yogi and Boo-Boo cooking over a campfire.

This makes the fourth day in a row that we've done Yogi Bear scenes. That may just be a record. I'm not sure if we've even done Looney Tunes scenes for four days in a row. So far we've done: Yogi and Boo-Boo running from Park Ranger Smith, one with Yogi and Boo-Boo preparing a campfire, and one with Yogi stealing food.

With all the practice, I made quick work of this one. When I was almost done, he came to my side of the table and said, "Can you move, please? I want to see how you're doing." He took a look and approvingly exclaimed, "Oooh, gooood!" He studied it some more and asked, "Can you add more background, instead of just grass?"

"You can add it," I told him. Lately, I've been encouraging him to draw more.

"Okay! Tell me what to do."

"You can draw trees."

"Okay." He did. "Should I draw a redwood?"

"Yeah, do that." He drew a taller tree, the redwood. "Maybe you want to add some detail on the bark," I suggested. He did.

"What else?" he asked. I thought for a moment. "Oh I know, a nest!" he shouted before I could say anything. He drew it and the bird.

"Cute," I said. He drew another bird. I asked, "Is that the momma and that's the baby?"

"No. Here is Daddy and this is Momma," he clarified by pointing each out to me.

"Okay."

"I can add rocks." He did. "Now I'll draw mountains." He did. "Daddy, look! I made some look near and some look far."

"Oh, cool." He's been proud of his newly forming skill of drawing perspective.

I left for a few minutes to quickly send a work email. He was still drawing when I came back. "Still drawing?" I asked.

"Yeah! I still have a few more things to do. One more mountain," he said. I was impressed that he knew to draw the mountains behind the smoke. "These are snow volcanos so they kind of trick you." He told me all about the snake, and the crystal ball on a stick, and the treasure box, and a story about how the snake tricked them by stealing the crystal ball. His imagination has no bounds. In days past I would have told him that less is more; but, today, I let him be free to create what he wanted.

"It's time," I finally called out. "You have to add your name."

"Okay, what should I do it like?"

"Maybe you can do it in the root system," I suggested. He did. 

"It's actually one root. Look Daddy! It connects!"

"Awesome!" Today, he made a nice set of additions to the original. He was very proud of his work and so was I.

Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo Bear Preparing a Campfire

"What's for the snack sack?" he asked this time!

"I don't know. You tell me."

"The Flintstones." I had introduced him to The Flintstones and The Jetsons on YouTube earlier this week. He'd never seen either cartoon. I ran a search and handed him my iPhone. He looked at options for a minute, then changed his mind. "Actually, Yogi again." I ran a new search and he picked another Yogi scene quickly. "This one!" he yelled.

"Looks good." Yesterday we had drawn a funny scene of Yogi and Boo-Boo running from Park Ranger Smith.

He sat next to me while I drew today. We had a long discussion about art and drawing. "How are you such a good drawer?! What you do...it looks exactly, I mean exactly, like it."

"Just a lot of practice, Victor. I've gotten better with time. I'm more confident now. Before I used to..."

He completed my sentence, "...get worried you'd make a big mistake."

"Yeah. I'd be worried the whole time that I'd make a big mistake and mess it all up. But now I don't worry as much. And I still make plenty of mistakes..."

He continued for me, "...but they can't tell because it's a big drawing."

"Yeah. You can always fix mistakes."

He watched me carefully as I drew the cabin. He studied my lines and the choices I made about the order in which I drew it. "You're the best drawer I've ever seen."

"What about your art teacher?" I asked, deflecting the compliment. His school has a part time art teacher that comes to his class once every few weeks I believe.

"She does easy stuff. You do hard stuff."

"Yeah, but that's probably because she's doing easy stuff with you guys since you're kids."

"No. She does easy stuff."

"Maybe you should ask her to show you her own art. I'm sure it's good."

"Okay. Next time I'll ask her. But you're the best artist I've seen."

"Thanks, Buddy." I was done. All that was left was to add his name.

"May I do my name?"

"Sure."

"Have you done my name as flames?"

"Yup."

"Can you do it?"

"No. You do it."

"Can you tell me how?"

"I think you know how."

"How about I draw some logs, and a fire, and then my name is part of the smoke?"

"Sounds good." I knew he knew what he wanted. He's always creative and very specific when he asks for the Sharpie. He did a good job of adding a campfire that wasn't in the original reference and creatively adding his letters to the smoke. His artistic ability is improving and I couldn't be prouder of him!