Artful Balance

A drawing of a mother with her newborn baby decorates the living room wall of Fay Daley’s Lake Villa, Illinois, home. That it took Fay seventy hours to complete the drawing is not remarkable. That those seventy hours were accumulated in fifteen-minute intervals over 280 days is. Done in chalk and colored pencil, the drawing is more than a tender scene in pastel shades; it is a tangible example of how Fay Daley has made noteworthy accomplishments “line upon line.”

Fay began drawing twenty years ago when she sought time for creative expression amid the demands of young motherhood. “I decided that I could allocate fifteen minutes a day to do artwork. I knew that if I chose to work in oil paints, it would take me too long to set up and to clean up. I chose chalks and pencils because I could pick them up and put them down easily. I set a kitchen timer during the youngest children’s nap time and had the others look at books or do their own art beside me. I thrived on it.”

In time, Fay discovered ways to market prints through a bookstore. Thus began her twenty-year involvement in publishing. Fay has had countless pieces of artwork and writing published and has received a number of prestigious awards for illustration.—Linda Hoffman Kimball, Flossmoor, Illinois

Creative expression for Fay Daley began in fifteen-minute intervals. (Photography by Linda Hoffman Kimball.)