Scribble Drawing Class II

There were four participants in today's scribble drawing class. The art therapy intern gave the following directive to clients, similar to the one she gave during the first scribble drawing class.

Directive: "Start by creating a scribble with eyes closed or open. Open your eyes and look at what is on the page. See if you can identify any concrete images in your scribble. Finish the drawing by coloring in shapes or adding new lines to create a finished drawing. When you are done, give the drawing a title. Share with the rest of the group how it made you feel. Were there any surprises or images that emerged?"

Two participants were late to the group, which threw things off a bit, said the art therapy intern. "I had to explain the exercise several times. One participant was glad to see others there and expressed being afraid that she would be the only one again.  The initial two participants had also been in the music group I went to and came because I had asked them to give it a try. One gave me a “high five” when I saw him again today."

The art therapy intern continued, one of the late participants "seems to have a lot of doubts about her skills that she expresses. (I’m not every good” or “my drawing wasn’t very good.”) She did, however, state that the last time she participated she brought the drawing home to her husband and said, “Look what I did!” She shared this with a smile and showing exuberance about creating the drawing. She choses a large sheet of paper and watercolor pencils and was hesitant to put the scribble on the page. “I don’t want to make a mistake,” she said, and continued by adding that she “doesn’t know what to do.” I encouraged her to do whatever she wants and not to think about it too much."

This same participant didn’t get much completed by the end of class and wondered why she is slower than the rest. "She saw a bunny in her drawing with one angry eye and a baseball cap, big floppy ears and feet. I encourage her to take it home and work on it some more and bring it back to class next week," said the art therapy intern. 

Another participants also had difficulty with the exercise and was not sure how to identify images within the scribbles. He was polite and very quiet and reserved. He said, “I am not sure what I am supposed to do.” The art therapy intern said, "I worked with him a bit and told him what I was seeing in the drawing.  I showed him the outline of a whale that he had started and his face lit up and he exclaimed, “I saw that too!” This seemed to help him and he continued to quietly work on his drawing. He also has a difficult time finding a title and talking about his work."

While this participants does not title the work, he did talk a bit about the content. The rest of the group commented about his quality of work in the shading and he pointed out the “core” of the shape. "We compare it to the earth. There also seems to be fire, or veins in one of the shapes. We also notice that the scribbles on the bottom seem like water. He makes a comment about the core floating," concluded the art therapy intern. 
 

"The dynamics of the group were good. Everyone was engaged. The timing is still a challenge. It’s hard to give people enough time to create and then have time to process. I need to allow more time for processing of the drawings," the art therapy intern said in closing.