Magic? No. Imagination.

 

Just a little something my dad imagined

"What should I draw?" I asked my dad one boring summer day. If anyone could suggest something interesting, it would be him. As an artist by profession, he had the art supplies, the skills and, especially, a multitude of objects and situations that he, himself, had been assigned to illustrate. So, I expected (hoped) he'd suggest I draw, oh, let's say, a lion lounging in the shade, a kid sipping a glass of lemonade by the pool, or even the trees in the backyard. (I'm sure if I'd thought hard enough, I could have come up with those by myself, but, yeah, I was that bored.)

I sat there with my sheet of paper and a pencil, poised to sketch my version of whatever he'd mention.

"Close your eyes," he said.
I did.

"Draw a dot anywhere on the page."
This was not what I expected.

"Draw a few more."

Where was this heading?

"Now, draw some short lines."

Was it some sort of artistic magic?

"Okay. Open your eyes."

Those random dots and lines, scattered across the page, did not magically transform themselves into an awe-inspiring scene. They sat there as bored-looking as I did. 

But my dad's sly smile screamed that he knew something I didn't. "You've started a really great drawing," he said. "Just use your imagination to fill in the rest." And he turned to go back to his own (literal) drawing board.

What!?! That did not help. I wanted to storm after him. But I sat. I turned the paper sideways. Again. Again. And, like magic, there it was. Those serendipitous marks had inspired an entire scene.

Jody Feldman cannot remember exactly what she drew that day but has, since, done it time and again to stave off boredom. And, yeah. She just might use that method (plus a related writing one) to have some fun with library/media specialCists at this year's Missouri Association of School Librarians conference come April.