Blessings & Blobby-Guys

I saw this chalk painting on a fence in a little beach town in Florida and fell in love with it immediately.

When I was in art school I learned about the draw-a-person test. At the time it was used to learn more about how children were progressing developmentally and perceiving the world. There was a usual pattern to how a child (anywhere in the world) would draw a person. In early childhood their drawing might just be kinetic scribbles that they’ve named. Later they move to what I call “blobby-guy phase” which is usually a blob with sticks for arms and legs, maybe more blobs for feet and noses and eyes. Eventually there are details like fingers and eyelashes and smiles and dresses, shirts and pants. In the final phase of the progression a child will start to draw a baseline and maybe houses and a sun or bird in the sky. I found it all very fascinating and beautiful! I particularly love the Blobby-guy phase which you can see in the chalk drawing above.

I remember doing some student teaching in a small elementary school in Costa Rica - yes, at one point in my life I trained to be a K-12 art teacher. I remember admiring a little boy’s drawing of his mother, which was a wonderful blobby-mom with stick legs and arms and lots of long straight hair. I asked him to tell me more about his mother and he started talking about all the things she did for him—make his lunches, comb his hair, sew and garden. With a look of utter enlightenment, his eyes wide with wonder and appreciation, he said “My mother has fingers.” With that he drew long beautiful fingers on his blobby-mom and showed it to me with great pride.