Every once in a while I tell myself to just go "art-about-it". Since I can remember I have loved going elbows deep into art supplies. Becoming an art therapist made my love of art closer to an addiction (the art supplies are everywhere!). Recently I was prompted by a student to create what "stress" looks like to me. The resulting image was a bit jarring to me, it didn't sit well. It made me feel 'unfinished'.
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| Created with watercolor and TomBow markers and water. |
When there is a mismatch between the image and my emotions the best thing for me to do is get back in there and work it out. With this particular image I decided to document the process in case I ruined it. As these things go, some emotions tend to be messier than others and "stress" is one of those that has a consuming energy about it.
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| Splashed watercolors on it and added salt, then streaked some colors out. |
Moving-on. As an image is 'worked-on' some of the original content gets processed. The energy gets used-up. The issues get ironed-out and ultimately it feels 'done'.
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| Began elaborating the shapes into flowers with old crayola markers. |
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| Came back into the flowers with permanent fine liner pens. |
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| Dissolved the marker markings with a water-brush. |
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| ...she wakes... |
Part check-in & part exploration this piece turned into much more than I expected & I'm thankful to have followed it into the process. As I juggle many hats being able to dive into a piece like this when the need arises is a part of self-care. Definitely going to be arting-about-it more (as time allows).
Thomas Merton. “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
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