Working together
I've mentioned before that my wife is an artist. Sometimes she gets me to draw things even though I can't create anything more sophisticated than a stick figure. She says art is therapeutic. A person's art, even when formed by an untalented hand, can express what the heart feels when words fall short. This happens even (and maybe especially) when we don't intend it—just as we can't speak what we don't think, neither can we draw what we don't feel.
So sometimes I draw pictures for her, sometimes she draws pictures for me, and sometimes we draw pictures together. Our favorite collaborative medium is something we call panel art. For a piece of panel art, you divide a page into at least four sections. One person draws something in one panel, making sure that lines in the picture touch every edge of the panel in at least one place. The other person then does the same in an adjacent panel, drawing a completely different picture. The two artists pass the paper back and forth until every panel contains a picture. The catch is that all lines that touch the edge of a panel must meet the lines that touch the same edge from the adjacent panel.
Panel art is a wonderful creative exercise and provides a chance for two people to communicate and create without using words. My favorite piece of ours is one we did in six panels. I'm too tired right now to analyze it and put into words what we were feeling or communicating, but you can see it yourself here. My panels are the upper-left, upper-right, and bottom-center. Mrs. Happy's are the upper-center, lower-left, and lower-right.
