Befitting Designs

A click of a send button isn’t satisfying to me anymore.

I strive to connect with more than just my WIFI. In this time of social isolation where travel has not been possible, it has been my dream to continue to expand my horizons and learn about other cultures while forming authentic friendships with others. Due to the fact I am still at a mere age of 20 years old, this was important to me. I wasn’t sure how it would be possible, since at the time, I could barely experience anything beyond the walls of my house. Pragmatic communication has always been something I have valued and it is disappointing that a majority of text messages I receive are careless. No one seems to bother correcting errors and anything beyond an abbreviation is few and far between. Instant gratification and convenience have engulfed our world's connections and communication with one another. I have always pondered on how different life was for those many years ago who didn't have access to technology. Instant gratification in communicating was non-existent back then. Mindful letters would have to be written and the recipients would have to wait. The waiting time allows for thoughts to race, serving as an excitement period. It is an unfortunate fact that not too many people nowadays have experienced that. Letters are quintessential for human expression. That is when my search for a penpal began.

When I first typed in the words “How do I find a penpal?” into google, I quickly discovered this was a ubiquitous interest. My inner child instantly sprung to life and the excitement of finding the right person began to build up. After searching through many profiles of people from all over the world, I reached out to a few that appeared to be from completely different backgrounds. I then sent my short but to the point message asking if they were interested in becoming penpals. I did not wish to continue the conversation beyond the exchange of an address, or else the whole point would have been defeated.

A few weeks down the line I received my first letter from a girl my age from France. Inside it came a few pictures of family members and pets. She told me about her favorite music, her siblings, and her passion for creating art. She designed the card very intricately, which made the card itself very interesting to look at. At that point in time I knew I wanted to make the cards I sent memorable and personalized. If I was going to send a letter, I wanted the recipient to be astonished when they unsealed it. When I finished writing her letter, I couldn't help but feel that it looked too plain. I added a few heart cut outs to the front, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. An odd idea came to mind. I remembered the girl mentioned her favorite kind of art was pop art. I originally wanted to paint some kind of pop art picture directly onto the card for her but there were multiple problems I encountered. The paint was not sticking well to the smooth card and the card was far too small for me to paint anything that I found intriguing. I decided to try painting a pop art picture freehand (using a reference picture from Pinterest) on a normal canvas to test my painting ability. Unfortunately, I found out I do not have Picasso's genes, but I did not let that discourage me! I decided to attempt the old school tracing method. At first I thought it would be easy, but it was anything but. I printed out the picture and put it behind the canvas. I then held it up to the light but it was too difficult to see the thin and detailed lines. I then chose to tape the printed out picture to my canvas to keep it stable. I began to cut out piece by piece and traced each part that I cut out. I started from the very bottom and worked for a few hours until I made it to the middle of the picture. The next day I returned to finish cutting and tracing my pop art picture and I soon discovered my scissors were gone. I didn’t think much of it since I reckoned I had other scissors in the house. After I scoured all of my drawers, I found a pair of craft scissors that have been there for what seemed ages. I began to continue my cutting/tracing method. Within one minute I was having a difficult time cutting the paper and I was confused on why. I realized the scissors I was using were far less in quality and ability than my original pair. I never thought the pair of scissors I used could matter so much. With my high quality scissors I could cut the paper more smoothly, and curve around small shapes with ease. This was not the case with the craft scissors. I quickly located the precise scissors and continued with my project. Within three hours I was finished and began to paint. When I was done I could not believe how identical it looked to the original picture (don’t worry, I made it very clear that I was not the original artist and ensured all the credit went to the artist!). This project taught me that tracing is not as easy as it sounds and is an accomplishment in itself!

Now that I had finished my painting, I had an idea of how to get it on the card. I used my mother’s photocopier and printed it out using the color feature and reduced it to smaller size that would fit on the card. I then cut it out and glued it to the front of a new card. This time I began my writing with the story behind the picture glued to the front. It was definitely a conversation starter, because after that our conversations and discussions about art materials and painting ideas were endless! I never could have imagined I would be learning so much from a girl who lived around 4,000 miles from me.

It turns out all you need is the right pair of scissors and and some inspiration to make a new friendship-at least for me.