Wax crayon scratch art

There’s a painting technique I remember from school, which involves first covering a sheet of paper with wax crayons, any pattern or drawing you wish, and then covering it with thick black paint (or ink). When dry, you scratch out a drawing with a sharp wooden stick, or a pen that had given up his mission long ago (i.e. a pen that doesn’t write any more). The result is neither the underlying drawing, nor the new one.  It’s a drawing that draws on the base pattern, bringing something new to life. At primary school, we usually made representations of “A city by night” in this way. But that’s just a start…

When we grow up, we apply the same technique to people. They, too, have a complex, underlying drawing underneath, which they don’t even know themselves, as it’s been painted-over. We uncover it only partially, and the result depends on how much talent we actually have. The talent to listen, to empathise, but above all – to wonder. If you apply a judgement tool (that’s a very blunt one) your drawing will probably be ugly. You may even make a hole in it, damaging the underlying design. Personally, my favourite is a moderately sharp, relatively thin plastic stick. I uncover some spots here and there, draw a few intuitive lines, and continue from there. Or I back off, discouraged or scared at what I’ve seen.

At times what I discover is of such beauty, that I’m tempted to scratch further, to see the complete picture, to know more, to understand everything - so much do I suddenly crave to know the answer. "Who are you?"

But there is a reason why the underlying design is covered in black ink. You can never remove it completely and go back to the original. There will always be ugly black traces left, and all the damage left by scratching, sometimes irreparable , even if you use the gentlest tools. If you like your drawing already, don’t try to improve it. Stop there, step back and wonder at your talent in creating people around you.

Someone else would have drawn these lines differently, someone else would have uncovered someone quite different.

That’s why we can be loved, hated or ignored at the same time by different people. But it has little to do with us.