Scribble Art

I didn't have anything particular in mind when I created this image. In fact I didn't know what I wanted to create, so I set out to create a scribble drawing. To do this activity you take a piece of paper and pencil, place the pencil on the paper and without lifting the pencil create a continual line/scribble all over the paper. Sometimes it's best to close your eyes when you do the scribble part. Then you turn the paper over and over, looking at it from all different angles until you start to see an image within the lines of the scribble. You then take those lines and create your image. You can color it in using any art medium (colored pencils, markers, paint, watercolors).

I realized after creating mine that prior to creating I had been talking with others about my recent trip over Easter weekend to visit my family and celebrate my nephew's 5th birthday. There's magic in the scribble drawing because it's neat to see what comes out of it. I think unconsciously I had continued to think about this great family visit and perhaps made myself see a bunny in the image.

This activity is great for any age. It would make a good classroom, family, friends get together art party, etc... activity. I would say it is good for ages 7/8 on up. It's neat to see what everyone comes up with and it really allows each person to use their imagination.

Art and History

I never knew my grandfathers. They passed away before my parents were married. I've seen pictures of them and heard stories through the years. My maternal grandmother while not a diagnosable hoarder was more of a pack rat. When she was moved to an assisted living home and her house sold my mother was the one sibling stuck cleaning out my grandmother's house (I helped a little.). While a sad task it was also like finding lost treasure. We found a huge pile of old random film not developed (which I later found a special print shop and had the lot of them printed, put in albums, and gave to my mother for Christmas one year- she hadn't even seen some of the pictures before), a collection of paper coffee cups from McDonald's (which I'm sure we shouldn't have thrown away because they were probably vintage or something), lots of tupperware containers with no lids (which I'm also sure were quite valuable) and a box full of old postcards from my grandfather dating back to 1910 and through World War II.

I'm memesmorized by most things old...buildings, clippings, pictures, magazines, furniture, etc... When home visiting my parents one weekend I took out the plastic bag full of postcards, read through them and looked at the images on the front. Later that week while taking a walk I found an old badly in need of repair table with fold down sides that was put out for the garbage. My boyfriend loved it when I begged him to help me carry it all the way home and store yet another piece of furniture in our apartment until I decided what to do with it.

What I ended up doing was painting the table top and edges in gold, using a layer of crackle glaze, then a top layer of black paint. The legs were repaired and spray painted a solid black. I then went to a copy center and made color copies on card stock paper of the front and back of many of the postcards, arranging them on the table, and then decopaging them in place. I put a couple of coats of clear satin on the top of the entire table to help adhere everything in place and protect it.

This process of creating this table was therapeutic for me in many unexpected ways. I was able to create art but also able to explore and find out a little bit more about my grandfather and his life. It might be silly to say, but I felt a little closer to him after making the piece.