Sketchbook Exercise

I needed something to do where I didn't have to have a high degree of concentration. I came across this little exercise. Begin with a line drawing. Don't think about the line or where it's going. Just move your drawing tool across your page.  When you're done with the line drawing, look at the drawing at what you "see", similar to looking for objects in clouds.

I used a black Sharpie marker to make the line drawing. Then the fun part, looking for things and coloring them in with Sharpie markers. You can use whatever media you like to add color: watercolor pencils, colored pencils, water colors, markers, crayons... I like the vibrant colors of the Sharpie markers.


For those of you who read the Highlights magazine as a kid, this exercise reminded me of trying to find the hidden objects.

I don't know whether to be amused or frightened that these things live inside my head. Some of the things I saw were influenced by what was going on the day I did the drawing.

Can you find the:

Manicured hand with the tarty red nail polish - Facebook friends were talking about having manicures and pedicures

the sock - I did a load of laundry

the swan - Didn't see any on the frozen lake as I took The Eldest to work. There are dozens of swans and they must be hibernating.


the bunny

Gort's head (the robot from the 1951 movie The Day the Earth Stood Still - AMC ran the movie Friday night in honor of the 60th anniversary of the movie.)

the flamingo

the Punch and Judy looking witch with a green wart on the end of her nose

the shy girl

the skull

the leg with the fishnet stocking

the mermaid (I have a mermaid mural over the sink in the bathroom so I see this image countless times during the day)

the guitar

the fish

the smiling whale (though The Young One thought it was a smiling tube sock. Everyone's a critic)

Ink, my black cat though not rendered true to life or we'd never see his muzzle

the mouse - living in the woods, a little visitor or two has been known to come in and sometimes falls down a lally column in the basement. Usually the little critter doesn't make it out. I usually hear scratching coming from the column and Ink usually sits beside the column if there's a guest (or snack) No noises and Ink hasn't been standing guard duty.

the dog - a new friend adopted my friend, Iowa

the maraschino cherry

the bird

the hedgehog

the angry plesiosaur or dinosaur - I got some news I was not happy about

the fish - The Eldest has a betta fish and I'm wondering about its transport back to college on Monday

Did you like finding the hidden objects game when you were a kid? Do you see any other objects I might have missed?