Another month has gone by and that means another 30 drawings for the Every Day Drawing Challenge! Tomorrow will be the 120th drawing completed for this challenge, and that is amazing to me!

Reflecting on the month of April and the drawings in this gallery, I have to say that although I try to keep the drawings light enough for the middle school audience, certain events such as the ponderance of Easter or the violence at the Boston marathon have caused them to appear more dark, with serious thought and deep feeling behind them. Honestly, this was a tough month.

Along with the time spent drawing, I spend a lot of time thinking about the drawings. I often go to bed thinking about the next day’s drawing task, considering it then and once again when I wake up in the morning. Some tasks are easy and ideas come quickly, while others take a little longer. Sometimes I am completely unmotivated by the task and to become motivated I try to think of different perspectives or interpretations. Quite often the phrase, “Art imitates life” runs through my head. I do my best thinking when drawing.

As with last month, some of the drawings are just quick sketches, while others have taken hours to complete. Each day I grow more familiar with painting on the iPad, and my favorite apps continue to be ArtRage, ProCreate, Brushes, and Sketchbook Express. I keep planning to try out new apps, yet I have barely scratched the surface of the four named above. Each time I think I’m going to switch, I think of another tool or effect within one of the apps that I would like to try out. If you know of any good drawing apps, please send me your recommendation!

My students have also been drawing for the challenge, and their work may be seen on our class Facebook page in various albums there which are grouped by weeks within the challenge: www.facebook.com/pages/Mona-Lisa-Lives-Here. The Instagram Photos album contains all of my Every Day Drawing Challenge drawings since the beginning on January 1, plus a few random photos: www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.360804727345743.85302.188940301198854&type=3

Here are this month’s drawings. If you click on a photo, you can view the gallery as a slideshow and still read the captions.

April 1(90): Draw something with wings App: Brushes Dragonfly for my friend Jean (Bean)… #everydaydrawingchallenge #brushes

April 2 (91): Draw an apple App: Sketchbook Express Pro – it was fun and just a little weird using the round paint splatter brush to make this painting… #everydaydrawingchallenge #sketchbookexpresspro

April 3 #92: Draw a brown paper bag App: ArtRage There is nothing like a brown paper bag to pique one’s curiosity. What’s inside? #everydaydrawingchallenge #ArtRage

April 4 (#93): Draw an egg carton or some eggs App: ProCreate This is our egg label on an old-fashioned carton (3 rows of 4). We have 10 layer hens and we usually get 8-10 eggs each day… #everydaydrawingchallenge #procreate

April 5 (#94): Draw a spoon App: ArtRage A spoon just like the one we put under our pillow when we really want a snow day. We are SO done with that for this year! ❄ #artrage #everydaydrawingchallenge

April 6 (#95): Draw a business card for yourself in your preferred line of work App: iDraw What an interesting drawing task for a Saturday! This is the day for whimsical living without regard for schedules and clocks. On this particular Saturday, the sun is out and it is warming up! ⌚ #everydaydrawingchallenge #iDraw

April 7(#96): Draw something sweet App: ProCreate Some of the sweetest things I’ve ever seen are in the paintings by Wayne Thiebaud. What a pleasure it is to copy one of his paintings…his periwinkle and lapis and sunflower gold…yummers… #everydaydrawingchallenge #procreate #thiebaud

April 8 (97): Draw a present you have received App: ProCreate Although I have received many wonderful gifts over the years, I chose to draw a present I gave to someone else. Two years ago I gave my husband 2 peacocks and a peahen for his birthday. I am madly in love with the color they bring to my life..so I guess this is my present, too… #everydaydrawingchallenge #procreate

April 9: Free choice. Draw anything you like App: Sketchbook Express I started this as a guided drawing lesson on the iPad with my 6th graders yesterday and finished it at a meeting last night. Free choice is the best! #everydaydrawingchallenge #sketchbookexpress

April 10 (#99): Draw something that represents a Spring resolution of yours App: ArtStudio “Get outside as much as possible” is #1 on my Spring resolution list…so I did a quick sketch so I could get outside…☀ #everydaydrawingchallenge #artstudio

April 11 (100): Draw or paint a landscape App: Brushes Cranberry bogs in early March in Plymouth, MA are the subject of this 100th drawing for the Every Day Drawing Challenge… #brushes #everydaydrawingchallenge

April 12 (#101): Draw a bar of soap App: ArtRage I brought this soap home from a trip a few years back..not sure, but I think Monterey, CA. I liked the vintage package design, which seems to say “relax”, yet there is a shark there…really close to the shore… #everydaydrawingchallenge #ArtRage

April13 (#102): Draw a power plug App: Brushes My laptop plug with some dramatic lighting…energizing isn’t it? #everydaydrawingchallenge #brushes

April 14 (#103): Draw some exercise equipment or what you use to stay fit App: ArtRage I like to walk. I need to do it more…especially on the beach… #everydaydrawingchallenge #artrage #vacation

April 15 (#104): Draw salt and pepper shakers App: Brushes LEGO shakers from LEGOLand in England from our month there in 1998. I collect salt and pepper sets so the hardest thing about this task was choosing which set to draw… #everydaydrawingchallenge #brushes

April 16 (#105): Draw some scissors App: Brushes Scissors cut. As with all things, we decide whether we use them to create beauty or destruction. Henri Matisse used them to create beauty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN0okOq8Hyc …✂ #everydaydrawingchallenge #brushes

April 17 (#106): Draw something tart or sour App: Brushes Lemon and lime, eat them all the time…ok, not really, but it rhymes… #everydaydrawingchallenge #brushes

April 18. (#107): Draw how you get your news App: Brushes I get my news from the internet and TV. So far this week all the news has been either sad or erroneous… #everydaydrawingchallenge #brushes

April19 (#108): Draw a lightbulb App: Brushes Woke up early to images of police car lights in the news. Thankful for these men and women who protect us… #everydaydrawingchallenge #brushes #boston

April 20 (#109): Draw a clock you have around your house App: Brushes This is our kitchen clock. We painted the kitchen to match it. My friends at work gave it me when I left my last job as a printer 15 years ago… ⏰ #everydaydrawingchallenge #brushes

April 21 (#110): Draw something with a flame or flames App: Brushes “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” – Eleanor Roosevelt In memory of Martin, Krystle, Lu, and Sean… #everydaydrawingchallenge #brushes #bostonstrong

April 22 (#111): Draw a bowl App: Brushes “Life is just a bowl of cherries” on this first day back to school from April vacation… ☺ #everydaydrawingchallenge #brushes

April 23 (#112): Draw something fresh App: Brushes Do you know how many 5th and 6th grade student faces flashed before my eyes when I heard, “draw something fresh”? Haha JK… this is a fresh strawberry/rhubarb pie that I made last night… #everydaydrawingchallenge #brushes

April 24 (#113): Draw or paint a fence App: Brushes This is the fence I see when I look out the window to our barnyard. Along with the fence, you can see Pavone in full display and Gidget waiting for breakfast… #everydaydrawingchallenge #brushes

April 25 (#114): Draw something ugly you love and keep for sentimental reasons App: ProCreate When my son was in third grade many years ago, he lost a tooth at school. He visited my classroom to proudly show me, but I wasn’t there. He found an envelope around my desk, dropped the tooth inside, stapled it closed and wrote “I lost my tooth!!!” on the front. The envelope has been in my desk all these years and I can’t bear to throw it away. And yes, the “ugly” tooth is still inside…✉ #everydaydrawingchallenge #procreate

April 26 (#115): Draw a shopping cart or basket App: Brushes Grocery shopping would be a lot more fun if we had adult-sized carts in bright colors like this. I’ll take purple and bright green, please… #everydaydrawingchallenge #brushes

April 27 (#116): Draw something green App:ProCreate Iris sprouting along the barnyard fence…a full dose of spring and so many shades of green… #everydaydrawingchallenge #procreate

April 28 (117): Draw something round App: ProCreate Here in Massachusetts, the best thing about a beautiful spring day like today is knowing that summer is right around the corner…⛵ #everydaydrawingchallenge #procreate

April 29 (#118): Draw some hair App: ProCreate This is the tousled mane of our miniature horse, Gidget, from a photo I took yesterday… #everydaydrawingchallenge #procreate

April 30 (#119): Draw a rock App: ProCreate For years my son and I spent New Year’s Eve in Rockport with dear friends. After a hearty breakfast the next day we would undertake “the enforced march”… a 3 to 5 mile loop around the town. We would stop at the beach to pick up some rounded rocks. Everyone pitched in to carry as many as they could. After a few years and a lot of rocks later, my son and friends used them to create a “Roxaboxen” in the woods in our backyard. All these years later these 2 rocks remain. So many memories with this drawing today! #everydaydrawingchallenge #procreate

Tomorrow is May 1st and I will release the new list as early as I can. Tomorrow’s challenge is to Draw a Flashlight…!