It as an early Saturday morning in February, and I was awakened by the blaring sound of a Scooby Doo Mystery Machine alarm clock.  With Jerry doing a comic book workshop  at the Hillsboro, IL, public library, it was up to me and his mom to represent Do Art Productions at the girl’s basketball tournament at the Pleasant Dale Park District!

Like her son, Jerry’s mom (Karen) is a high-energy personality, with an amazing capacity for whimsy.  It was her idea to add more props to the drawing booth experience, and she brought a pirate hat, a princess tiara, and a parrot hand puppet.

We arrived early, and I walked inside to look at the setup.  It was a fairly small lobby, with a hallway leading into the gymnasium.  We set up our tables and banner just across from reception.  Karen was concerned that some of our chairs were too close to the door but I told her not to worry.  Kids being kids, they’d push up against the tables, and we’d have less space than we thought.  

Soon the basketball tournament started in earnest, and kids filed past in basketball jerseys.  Karen had been to many of these with her son, back when he was playing basketball in school, and she knew as well as I did that many of these kids would have down time between games.  Sure enough, many of the kids ran back into reception, fascinated by the prospect of a free drawing booth with prizes.  Three little girls in particular contributed many amazing drawings, including some of their very own comic creations.  One little boy, there to support his sister, even drew an entire tableau, with Karen and I drawn as animals in a jungle scene.

Two hours went by quickly, especially once Karen put on her pirate get up!  She used a fake mustache we had left over from the workshops, along with the pirate hat, a toy hook hand, and the aforementioned parrot hand puppet.  As I reminded several kids, it was just ANY parrot: It was a MACAW!

When we finally broke down our drawing booth for the day, there were many amazing WACKY drawings of Karen and I.  After a long week fighting a cold, feeling distant from the artistic energy, I felt invigorated by all kids’ creativity, and the incredible drawings.  As Karen and I drove back from Pleasant Dale, we were full of new and incredible ideas for Do Art Productions.

And I can’t wait to share some of those ideas with you soon!