Pastels with Nani

Recently we’ve enjoyed the presence of Nani—Joaquin’s maternal grandmother—staying with us at home for a full month. Nani is an impressive self-taught artist and she connects with Joaquin through art, among many other things. During their conversations she showed Joaquin a beautiful photo of a swan in a lake. Joaquin decided to use it as reference for a drawing he was itching to do since he had a new box of pastels. This is what he made:

Then he consulted with Nani: What next subject to draw?… Together they decided on a gorgeous photo of a peacock. This time Nani showed him a few pastel techniques. Joaquin let her teach him, which was tricky because the drawing called for artistic passion, and Nani had to consciously step back to avoid taking over Joaquin’s drawing. He took two days making it, and despite my protests to fill the background with more color, he called it done. It is gorgeous!