Dad has been enjoying drawing and collaging in these recent years. It’s not an everyday thing. When he’s in the art mode, he’ll whip out his sharpies or start cutting up cardboard.

His materials of choice are old newspaper, discarded cardboard boxes, and his trusty sharpie pens. He uses the newspaper as his canvas with the sharpies. And the cardboard is the structure of his piece. These pieces are ones that he wants to stand on their own.

The key to Dad’s art is upcycling. He has always been a frugal man and has made many things from scraps around the house. He’s our MacGyver. But these days, building things is hard for him, and his drawing and pasting has taken its place.

He’s medium of choice is sharpies and old newspaper. I’ve bought for him sketchbooks, paints, and watercolor pencils to no avail getting him to use them. He would always fall back to his sharpies

Sourcing Materials

Dad does think about sourcing his material. One day, he asked me if I ate a fig bar. He said, “I want the wrapper because of the foil inside of the wrapper.” I asked him why he needed it? “I’m going to use it for the eyes on my turkey and snowman to make it stand out.”

He sourced the Depends box for the Christmas tree because of its green color. One day, I walked past him, sawing away with a serrated knife at the box, cutting the tree’s triangle shape. I just had to smile, he still has that making thing at 92.

I’d thought I would give my dad art a show case so I gave him a tag on Instagram and Facebook if you like to continue to search for new work. #jo1drawing. I made his tag from his first name, Joichi. “Ichi” means one in Japanese. 

Have a Happy Holidays. Eat well and stay safe.