Childhood Art Therapy

One of the things I do to both pass the time and to bribe my daughter to eat all her veggies and such is drawing; drawing as a pretext for storytelling. Storytelling is probably the only thing that truly differentiates humans from animals (or so I guess — we’ve made such false assumptions before) and is certainly what holds cultures together and defines them. Sometimes I illustrate the process of creating the food we’re eating. For example, a few nights ago we had a dish that included wild rice and shrimp, so we were talking about Ojibwa culture and what wild rice (manoomin) meant to them, as well as the process of de-veining a shrimp and preparing it for human consumption.

harvesting-wild-rice.jpg

That said, admittedly it’s generally just funny little drawings and stories on junkmail envelopes… I must have hundreds of these lying around the house (that’s both a reflection on how much we draw and how little I clean I suppose, heh).

breakfast-doodles.jpg

A friend of ours is having twins and her baby shower is today, so we used these scraps to make her a card over breakfast.

horse-on-a-bunnydog.jpg

19 Comments

  1. Waiting4Arson wrote:

    Where/when did your snake/lizard characters originate? I find them charming.

    Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 10:20 am | Permalink
  2. cirrin wrote:

    Lol, seriously, I love you. You’re such a cool daddy.

    Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 10:50 am | Permalink
  3. Wldfire_1 wrote:

    Your such a great artist and Daddy! I love how your scribbles are better then i could do on my best day trying. :)

    Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 11:59 am | Permalink
  4. Elizabeth wrote:

    Best.Parent.Ever. I’m ashamed and inspired.

    Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 1:39 pm | Permalink
  5. skid wrote:

    aww… the quote on that card is so cute.

    Shannon, I love how apparent your love for your daughter is.

    Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 7:48 pm | Permalink
  6. Keppy wrote:

    Thank you for starting this blog – I find things you say and your values to be right there w/ how I am feeling at this time in my life. I am SOOO ready to begin changing my life and being happy… The time has finally come to give myself some happiness and stop caring about what others might think. I’ve always felt that way but lately the urge is unable to be contained.

    You seem like a great dad! Your daughter is so lucky!

    Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 10:50 pm | Permalink
  7. hitonihi' wrote:

    The card is great :)

    Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 12:23 pm | Permalink
  8. marty wrote:

    great concept for a card… hallmark material :) hahaha…

    Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 2:20 pm | Permalink
  9. Elaine wrote:

    Cute, as always :)

    Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 5:18 pm | Permalink
  10. wintersky wrote:

    I love your art, even the stuff on the junk mail is great :) don’t ever stop blogging.

    Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 6:58 pm | Permalink
  11. p7tms wrote:

    you know…. you have many options with those characters you paint, among them you could:

    write a children’s book and illustrate it yourself and have it published.

    create your own line of greeting cards wtih those characters

    :)

    That would definitely be one way to diversify :P

    Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 8:14 pm | Permalink
  12. Shannon, why don’t you use your talents for good instead of bad? Publish a book. Create a greeting card company. Tell stories to children at the library. Teach school. Why not step into the light and away from the darkness? Of course, I am only a troll living under the bridge to you and yours so you won’t listen.

    Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 9:26 pm | Permalink
  13. Caitlin wrote:

    If I didn’t say it before, I will say it publicly-thanks for making the cards, to both of you! They were very much appreciated by all parties.

    Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 10:20 pm | Permalink
  14. 1nflux wrote:

    Bribery with Art. Genius ;)

    Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 10:59 pm | Permalink
  15. Mars wrote:

    I remember you drawing with my son several years ago. I think I still have the one drawing, it’s on the back of some paperwork for the porsche. Maybe I should scan it and send it to you, because your “drawing with children” skills have definitely improved! :)

    Monday, October 15, 2007 at 10:15 am | Permalink
  16. TheWomanMonster wrote:

    I adore the card.

    I hope your friend has a gentle pregnancy and that the twins are born healthy and strong. Bless.

    Monday, October 15, 2007 at 10:40 am | Permalink
  17. TomFox wrote:

    i run a charity that uses art therapy to help tibetan refugee children tell their stories. it works wonders for them!

    Monday, October 15, 2007 at 7:45 pm | Permalink
  18. Glow wrote:

    That card is great LOL!

    Wednesday, October 17, 2007 at 4:00 am | Permalink
  19. jessica wrote:

    neat! what a fun idea!

    Friday, November 2, 2007 at 12:16 pm | Permalink
Wow Shannon, that's really annoying! What is it, 1997 on Geocities? Retroweb is NOT cool!

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