[Julie Deane]

Hi Everyone -

I thought I would share a fun way I came up with to get lots of drawing practice.

I am a speech therapist who works in a public school in a low-income neighborhood. For our Fall Festival, I donated a few hours to doing profile portraits in charcoal for a small sum. I got such a good response that I offered them after school hours, with the proceeds to go towards therapy supplies.

Well, since Halloween, I would estimate that I've done around 60 protraits, mainly of children but some adults too, of all races. It's been a blast! The families are happy because they have a unique Christmas present to give, I'm happy because I'm getting drawing practice, and my clients will be happy with the new toys and therapy materials that I was able to buy with the proceeds.

The only day I've had difficulty getting a likeness was today, and I had been sick and had not been able to draw in over a week. I made arrangements to redo those two (out of six done) and have learned something important - I need to practice every day or I will get rusty. Anyway, this has been a great win-win situation that I thought I would share.