Makes Me Happy

15. July 2009 by admin.

Anthony was longing to show us his sketchbook. Although, when he opened it, the pages were less like a sketchbook and more like a completed work. Pages and pages of line drawings and colors, with inked pages of detail and meticulous time obviously spent. Flipping through, he stops on a two-page spread, its background filled in a royal purple.

“It’s something that makes me feel happy,” says Anthony as he tilts the book as though he were going to read us a story from its pages, “I use it to feel good every day.”
Anthony has been with us for about five months now, and he says that the art program is a great way to help him relax, “I use it to express myself, and it’s a coping skill when I get mad” Anthony tells us. He looks down again at his purple picture, “This is my favorite because of the purple, and because my nickname is Chucky,” he lists as he points to an identical drawing of the Chucky character from the Rugrats cartoon.

“I’ve always liked to draw, but here I get time to do…you know whatever I like to draw,” Anthony says as he looks away from his picture, “I love the art program. I have great, talented teachers and they help me develop skills and teach me to be constructive and create whatever things I want.”

Anthony plans on being in future art shows with his drawings, and maybe making a mural in the future. “I really want to make a big one!” he says, pointing to his sketchbook, “I have lots of ideas.” Maybe someday we will see Anthony’s art at a gallery, or used for a city museum, or maybe he will just do it for fun. After all, it does make him “happy”.

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