Turning Her Child’s Art into Epic Expressions of Pandemic Life

My sister-in-law Sharane created the new blog header you see above. I asked her to do so after following the work she’s been doing during the lockdown.

Mood Music:

I’ve never seen anyone else do what Sharane does: turn drawings from my nephew into her own epic expressions of pandemic life.

I asked for some narratives describing the circumstances behind each piece, and she kindly obliged. This strange, new world is hard, and she truly nails it.

Panda-Emic

3/27/2020

This is the piece that restarted my drawing. As a mother of two, a full-time childcare worker and a part-time student, I rarely find time or energy to draw. That changed, like everything else.

We had just started quarantine and my everyday routine had come to a complete stop virtually overnight. No work, no school, no after-school activities. COVID-19 had begun to consume my days and would soon consume my nights. I stopped being able to sleep, riddled with the “what ifs” of the pandemic.

One afternoon, I was sitting down with my son drawing and drawing and drawing. I finally felt stress-free — focused on something other than the pandemic. He drew this one picture of the sun and moon battling each other while a third monster tried to suck up all their power. It expressed what I was feeling.

This piece represents how the pandemic had all at once devoured every hour of my day, my mind and my energy. Like the small black-and-white figures, it’s the small things and everyday people that are the true heroes in this battle.

Yeah, that could happen

3/30/2020

Half the inspiration for this came from some doodling I was doing with my son, the other half was me just wanting to draw a giraffe. His picture just screamed giraffe to me, so I screamed back, “Yes, I will draw a giraffe!”

Why a giraffe in a ski mask with technicolor, bear-like creatures latching onto its neck, you ask? If the world can shut down, then why not have a giraffe robbing people.

Crazier things have happened.

Techno Poppy

4/05/2020

This piece was inspired by my son’s artwork and my daughter’s spirit.

As a parent with children that live in an era where technology is ever-changing and all-consuming, I struggle at times to find balance. I grew up without easy access to the internet and computers. Most of my young life was in a cellphone-free world.

So I try to help my children strike a healthy balance between imaginary play and technology. This became more difficult with the early closing of schools and social distancing.

Robot-Sitter

4/13/2020

My son drew a robot trying to take over the world. In our new normal of social distancing and a quarantined mom, I related to that robot.

I found myself overnight being given a whole new list of job titles plastered on top of my already vast library of existing titles, mainly the all-consuming job of mom. Now I’m an elementary school teacher, camp counselor, fort architect, etc.

Sketch book

4/27–29/2020

I’ve had sketchbooks in the past but I rarely used them to their fullest and was more prone to doodling ideas on napkins and random pieces of paper. Ninety percent of my art up till this new wave of inspiration was mainly fine liner to paper with no plan, no pencil, no eraser. I would start with a circle or line and see where it would take me.

I always wanted to finish a sketchbook so I figured what better time than now?

Thanks, Sharane! Readers can follow Sharane’s daily drawings on Facebook and Instagram. Please do not repost Sharane’s images.