Practice Art Therapy

My 8 year old was really intrigued by the ink blot drawing I brought home from class and had been asking for me to show her how to make one, so I figured this would be a great way for me to practice. 

It was pretty easy to get her to jump into the project. Her first creation:

As soon as she opened the folded page, she said, "I know what it is! It's a face with a mustache - see the eyes and the cheeks?" Then she started adding with the oil pastels and said "Could I make it a woman with a mustache?" I nodded and she started narrating as she drew, adding onto the face. Issues around gender and gender expression have been hot and heavy in our house since she was 4 so I was intrigued. I asked about who the person was, what they were thinking... she said "Oh, she's just bored, see?" and added the thought bubble. I kept nudging, trying to get her to tell me more about this person. 

In response, she dropped the yellow pastel and picked up brown, exclaiming "I know exactly who this is!". After some back and forth, with me being directed to guess at the identity, "It's Jessica and she's sort of like family because if she marries Ian then she'll be my cousin too."

Some background, Ian is my husband's cousin (he's 29) who has lived with us for the past 5 years. He's in the process of moving in with his girlfriend (that's Jessica) and we recently just told the kids. After some reassurance that he isn't going far (just Queens!) and that he'll still be around (he's our primary babysitter), Annie promptly asked "Can I have his room?". 

After she announced the identity of the person in the picture, she then asked to make another: 

After she made this image, she announced, "look it's a guy with a beard" (more facial hair?), "and glasses! Oh I know, this is Ian! But it's when he's old, with a big bushy beard. Ha, he and Jessica are nanas and grandpas." This opened the door to a short conversation about what they would be like as grandparents and then what she was thinking about the new living arrangements: "Well, I'm sad because he's leaving, but I'm happy because he and Jessica are really happy." 

Then she started adding a hat and asked to make another image: 

This one she REALLY loved - immediately "It's a dog! Maybe it's their dog!" 

This prompted a new tangent and a new story - the woman became Mrs. Black and the man Mr. Black and the dog Black Dog. Mrs Black is still bored and sometimes Mr. Black wonders if he made a mistake marrying her (!). Mr. Black loves the dog the best, but he's really vain - not the dog, Mr. Black (new vocabulary word from her homework reading book getting tried out), he thinks he's just the most handsome and important. 

Then the dog got spotted ears and "Close your eyes, don't look until I'm finished adding this", and then a cape. Because he's Super Dog, Super Spot, and he flies. And Mr. & Mrs. Black don't know his secret identity. 

And then she announced she was done. Which seemed reasonable since we'd been working and talking for about 30 minutes. 

This art was a great way to access an issue that I didn't even have on my radar -- Annie seemed very go with the flow about Ian's move, but now I know to keep an ear out for any lingering concerns or conflicted feelings (which she clearly identified). 

It was also just a nice experience - watching her enjoy the process of making the ink blots, dealing with mess (on the table, on her), seeing it turn out how she wanted or not, dealing with not being able to control, letting her imagination fun with it. 

I also felt like if I wasn't working with my own kid, I could have gone farther with the story of the Blacks -- exploring their dynamics could be interesting. 

I'm actually thinking about doing the partner activity with drawing lines (follower and leader) another time because I think it would be really illuminating!!