Sunday, August 1, 2010

A room without a view

I work at a doctor's office, and working in an interior office (with four solid walls and no windows) can be brutally bland. Also, I do most of my work on the phone or on a computer- so combining that with no natural light and no real distraction really started to drive me crazy. I put up pictures, bought calendars with beautiful pictures, and changed my computer’s wallpaper all the time- anything to give me some kind of focal point, all to no avail. I was in terrible need of something to brighten my days.

One day, while drawing with my son (then 8 years old) I took an oversized piece of construction paper, divided it into quarters with a marker to make it look like windowpanes, and asked him to draw me a window. He was initially at a loss, so I explained it to him- I wanted a picture that I could hang on my wall at work that would simulate me looking out a window. That way I could not only have something to look at, but also something that he made. What I saw out the window was totally his choice. He had a great time drawing a mountain to hike on with little people and a bear:

And this one coincided with a geography assignment, so it has a plateau and valley:

Seeing how happy it made both of us, I decided to spread the wealth and request more windows from other kids. Everyone had a great time- my nephews, friend's kids; they were all excited to make their own creations. It was also interesting to see what the kids wanted to see out their windows. It reminded me of a psychology teacher at GCC who told my class about a theory that when kids draw houses they are most often a reflection of themselves- it is an art therapy technique called a House-Tree-Person test . The idea is that a child’s drawings are a representation of their feelings and personality. I wonder if the windows are a reflection of the artists, or a reflection of the artist's projections of me- either way, I have lots of beach scenes, mountains, and a couple of bike riders- all sunny and happy, so I am grateful either way. I have since moved into an office with physical windows, but I have the windows hung up on my bulletin board at home now as inspiration. They remind me of the importance of perspective and seeing the world through other people’s eyes, particularly through the eyes of our kids.

10 comments:

  1. When I have kids I definitely want to have them do something like this for me. What an awesome way to get them involved and inspire creativity.

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  2. Good to see you added pictures makes this blog interesting I like the top picture better!

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  3. So cute! It's so creative as well, I may have to steal the idea from you.

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  4. That's a great idea, and it allows the children to give to you their perception of the world around them. Nice for a dungeon of an office!

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  5. The best part about a drawn window is that you can constantly change your view.

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  6. This is such a clever idea! I love the pictures of the window panes that you provided for us. It's always so great to see what's going on in a child's head.

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  7. It is amazing how many hard moments in my old offices my childrens' drawings helped me through. They are in college now but I still have them packed away. My favorites always were the Mother's Day drawings.

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  8. Those are some awesome drawings, make sure you hold onto them for when your kids are older. I found some old drawings recently that were hilarious, it's a lot of fun to look back on that stuff.

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  9. Awww. I remeber those pictures! Those were the ones that would get us through the 3:00 chumpies!! Thanks kids!!

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