Bow and Art

Last year, I got involved in Inktober, a month-long, non-competitive art event open to anyone. During Inktober, people use ink to create a sketch from a verbal prompt consisting of a single word. Each day in October we get a new prompt, and we have to complete a sketch that day. My favorite drawing that came out of Inktober 2018 is a portrait of baby Bow.

Unfortunately, I got sick that year and was not able to complete Inktober. This year I was  finally able to do one drawing each day in October, and many of my drawings have been of Bow.

While I drew on my own, I also encouraged Bow to draw, too. He didn't always want to, and when he did he would not tell me what he was drawing. By looking at older art from other family members, including myself as a child and Sword in her preschool years, I have noticed a distinct difference between the sorts of art that Bow makes and the art of children I have known. Human children do not strive for realism early on, but they do make representational art that is largely symbolic. Body parts are given symbolic representation and part/whole relations are very important. When Bow draws, he may be representing things, but not so much by symbolism, and quite possibly by a direct attempt at realism.The video linked below demonstrates more fully what I mean.

Here is a picture of the etching that we discovered on the floor of the inner pen in 2008. It had not been there before.

Do you see a head of an ape when you look at it? Do you think this is an artwork by Bow?

RELATED

http://notesfromthepens.blogspot.com/2013/07/interpreting-inkblots-or-looking-at-art.html


http://notesfromthepens.blogspot.com/2014/06/where-is-sunshine.html