Figure 8 Doodling
Do you remember some of your first childhood doodles? I recall mine and the best way to describe it is figure 8 drawing. I’m not sure who first taught me and my sisters this technique, but it is one that we’ve passed on to our children as well. I Facebook messaged my sisters to share what they remember and here are some snippets from our conversation:
Emily asks, “Do y’all remember doing figure 8 drawings and making them into random shapes and then coloring them as children? Did we learn that from school, mom, or did I just make that up?”
“I do remember that. I loved doing them. I can’t remember where we got that from. I think I did it with the girls when they were little a few times but don’t recall if they did it at school…” shares Krista.
Jennifer chimes in “I DO remember these! We would draw them in pencil and then color them in! Did somebody at church show us this? Did granny show us this? Or mom?”
“Do y’all remember then taking scissor blades and going over the coloring to give it a hazy muted subdued affect” adds Krista.
“Come to think of it, I think Granny showed us the scissor blade technique” responds Emily.
Krista recalls, “I know I did a lot of them during church. I just can’t remember where or when we learned it.”
“Yes I associate them with church.” Jennifer adds “maybe in a YES class? Sometimes I would draw black or brown trees in front of it when I was done and it would look like a sunset behind the trees.”
“I remember that too Jen” adds Emily.
“I think we did them even younger than that because I have a memory of being little sitting in the kitchen at that little white table in the house in Jonesville and someone showing or helping us and it seems Emily was like a toddler. It was sunny outside” responds Krista.
Jennifer adds “Maybe mom or granny taught us.”
“Probably” agrees Krista, “though I feel like it was someone else, an older black lady. Not that I see the person, it’s just a feeling.”
“I have a vivid memory of drawing these on the side porch at the house on Division Street in Jonesville. I must have been around 4 or 5 years old. I think it was raining and I was lying on my stomach drawing with crayons and paper. I’m sure Granny was in the background singing…’Oh the rain is coming down coming down, down, down with the pitter patter sound soft and low…’ Or maybe all my memories are getting jumbled together.”
Needless to say, we still don’t have a definite answer on where we learned to do these. Feel free to comment if you did them as a child as well.
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