Lafney | D.R. Laferriere

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The story behind the images

In May of 2008 I was searching for a fun way to get my creative juices to flow first thing in the morning in a fun-and-kind-of-crazy direction.

At the time I was working nights as a graphic designer and illustrator for a local newspaper; fighting a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the Attleboro-area way.

My early mornings were spent getting my kids ready to get out of the door and in to school.

Some parents I knew of, or read about, would slip a note into their kids' lunch bags.

I decided to go a step further.

On Cinco De Mayo last year I started to draw directly on my kids' sandwich bags with a Sharpie marker.

I would make the sandwich and put it in a sandwich bag. Then I would try to think of something to draw on the bag.

My inspiration would have to strike quickly, for I would only give myself no more than five minutes to come up with the idea and do the drawing. After I did the drawing I would take a picture with my digital camera.

I created an online account on flickr.com to upload the photos because those bags with the drawings would be tossed in the trash never to be scene again.

My kids had no idea what I would draw for them. They would find out when they sat down to eat thier lunch with their friends.

I began with a black, a red and a purple Sharpie marker. I drew a sombreo, then ducks, chickens, fish, a lego brick, a glass of milk (the milk being cut out from a white paper napkin), a pencil, an astronaut on a spacewalk, a barcode, an iSandwich, ants and bugs crawling around, worms eating through to the other side of the sandwich, robots, and spaceships.

Last school year they both got drawings done on sandwich bags.

This school year my youngest needed a new lunch bag. The one we bought for him had it's own reusable container for his sandwich. I now had to do his drawing on paper.

I still used the same criteria, no more than five minutes from idea to execution. Using a letter sized paper cut in quarters and made my creation on one of the quarters.

He got ducks, crazy snow sculptures, kites, rocketships, pacman ghosts, hamsters, chickens and squirrels.

I use a coffee cup, filled with select Sharpie markers and colored pencils, a sandwich bag and piece of paper as my tools to draw, to create, to have some fun before my morning coffee kicks in.

I look forward to do it, love to do it, and hope you enjoy them at flickr.com/photos/dlaferriere.