I may get bored with the EDM weekly challenges, but the Illustration Friday projects really challenge me, because coming up with an idea from one word is, simply put, challenging. As soon as I saw the theme for the week I immediately knew what I was going to do. This drawing could be interpreted in many ways, but I'd love to hear what you all see when you look at it. A big interest of mine is child abuse and stopping it. I was abused as a child, and I took some very drastic measures to insure that it would never happen to my kids. When I lived in PA, the one way I found I could help was to support a Crisis Nursery for children who were at risk of being abused or neglected. If a parent was so stressed out and they needed a break, they could drop their child off, no questions asked, and pick them up later after they had calmed down. I don't know how many lives the Lehman Center saved, but I do know the people working there were caring and supportive people, not only to the children, but to the parents as well. Intervention and anonymous support for stressed out parents and art therapy for the children. Every year they hold an art auction to raise money for the shelter and I would donate a piece of my art. When I drew this picture, I was thinking how a child would feel if they were missing love. Or encouragement. Or the simple things that each one of us needs to survive; food, shelter and clothing. Maybe something as simple as someone looking at them when they are talking so that they know they are being heard. IF you have kids, give them a hug and tell them you love them, every day, no matter what, no matter how old they are. My kids are teenagers and I make sure they hear it every day.
