Sketching childhood: toy hoover

I began the sketching childhood series of drawings for two reasons. 1) To document my children’s childhood. As much as I love photography, I find that nothing engages all my senses like drawing. It makes me see all the layers of a thing or a situation. To draw their lives then, makes me feel like […]

Sketching childhood: hide n squeak eggs

The house is quiet. Aoife is away on a sleep over, and Kirby has a tummy bug that makes him a bit quieter and clingier than normal. These hide n squeak eggs by Tomy have provided most of the fun for both of us yesterday and today. He plays by my feet and I draw. […]

sketching childhood: Aoife’s camera

We asked her what she wanted to do with her Christmas and birthday money. She quickly asked for a new camera to replace the point-and-shoot I accidentally smashed on the kitchen floor a few months back. She had used it since she was three and was pretty confident with it (you can see some of […]

Sketching childhood: stacking rings

I have a bit of a thing for wooden toys, and always choose them over plastic. So I love when the kids choose them as their favourites too. Unlike their plastic cousins, wooden toys just grow more beautiful with play. I even have a little dream of having a collection of well worn wooden toys […]

Sketching childhood: Kirby’s push along cat

We bought the wooden push along cat for Aoife when she was little, but she never really took to it. She was probably a little too old for it when she got it, but I couldn’t resist it when I saw it in the shop. Sometimes parents get toys that are more for them than […]

sketching childhood: Aoife’s roller skates

During the summer, my insatiable appetite to record small, but meaningful moments in my family’s life had me pulling out my sketchbook and pencil again after years of neglect. As much as I love photography and take one my cameras everywhere, I find nothing gets to the core of those moments like drawing them. Drawing […]

Dreaming of drawing

Growing up, I was rarely without a pen or pencil in my hand. I loved drawing and would draw on any paper available. I thought they were all lost, but recently, during a clear out, I came across a bunch of drawings from my teens and twenties. Such a wonderful treasure to unearth, and very […]