This post could be seen as a follow up to Art As Medicine - I attended an Art Workshop via Zoom today and Loved it. If you haven't checked that one out, I recommend you give it a read first.
I spent the last three days and nights with friends, for the first time in about two months. It felt good and I had almost forgotten about you know what. Now I'm home alone again and I'm feeling a lot of mixed emotions - anger, frustration and sadness are three of them - but overall I'm doing pretty well.
These days I have many tricks up my sleeve to deal with my emotions better. Reaching out to people who are dear to me, playing long distance chess with friends, reading, making puzzles, listening to music, meditating, walks in nature and healthier food are prioritized.
Half an hour ago, I decided to make use of a technique that I learnt 6 day ago, while partaking in @clareartista 's Art workshop via Zoom.
In that art workshop, called Art As Alchemist: Stepping Out Of The Fear Body , I learnt to draw in two steps. First, intuitively ( like a kid, trying not to think, just letting my fingers make the choices ) and secondly looking for figures/ a human figure in the scribbling and bringing that to the foreground.
I have no exact idea of the time this took but it can't have been much longer than 15 minutes, of which half was spent intuitively and the other half highlighting or coloring the figures that I discovered.
Here's the result:
And here's a close up of what I think is the most significant part:
For your information, none of the shapes where added in the second part of the process. Even the circles ( the figure's heads ) and the hands on the back were present, a result of the intuitive drawing.
Interestingly enough, while coloring the figures - I started with the purple / blueish ones in the center left - I began to discover a story behind the drawing:
A human is standing at the edge of a cliff, looking down. There's a big crack in the rocks but also a red line that seems impossible to cross. He's looking down and sees many colors underneath him and behind / past the red barrier.
Green stuff is coming out of his head ( perhaps he's vomiting? ).
There's a bigger figure, dressed in white, behind him. It's holding on to him with a huge hand.
What I find pretty amazing, is how scribbling without thinking, can lead to an image that seems so connected to what is happening in the world right now.
Perhaps it's just my imagination, but it's also likely that there's a way deeper connection between art and reality / art and the subconsciousness than many of us think.
Much love,
Little Hyper,
who's slowly but steadily working his way towards SuperZENsitivosaurus
After the drawing and writing this blog, I am feeling much better.
Thank you so much Clare, for teaching me this healing technique :<)
22% - my favorite number - of the rewards from this post will go to you.
If any of you is interested in learning this from Clare herself, make sure to follow her account @clareartista . There's a chance that she's hosting the same workshop again in a week ( or two ).