LESSON 2
PART 1 - DRAWING
Let’s earn some more skills along our way.
How about drawing tips and thoughts on proportions...
Look out for your little self, invite it to paint and draw with you.
Children paint freely.
They are boldly and imaginatively, exploring and experimenting, not worried.
They don’t overthink, they don’t doubt themselves.
They have no problem starting and finishing a painting.
They have no problem ‘destroying’/changing what they painted so far.
Play is essential to health.
Journaling
“Layer by layer I removed all that I thought I was, all that I thought I had to be and in the moment I was left standing naked and vulnerable without identities and labels, I remembered, I am that I am.”
- Unknown source -
Let’s meditate.
We take our time to breathe and while breathing letting go of everything that holds us back, that doesn’t feel good.
If you want, you can listen to your favorite music or meditation.
TEMPLATES FACES...
SIDEWAYS
PROFILE 3/4
FROM ABOVE or BELOW
DRAWING EYES, MOUTH & NOSE
PART 2 - 'FINDING' THE FIGURE
“Relationships are laboratories of the spirit. They are hospitals of the soul. They are the places where the wounds that we hold will be brought up because that’s the only way they can be healed.”
- Marianne Williamson -
Every experience in our life is an opportunity to experience the divine. Let us not pray to be delivered from our opportunities but to find our Tender Loving Lord within them. All conditions are temporary while the embrace of Infinite Love is eternal.
Simply let us do this: Be still.
Be still and let us lay aside all thoughts of what we are and what God is. Let’s lay aside all the concepts of the world and every image we are holding about ourself.
Let’s empty our minds, all the judgement, everything we are ashamed of.
I suggest we find a vessel. This can be a vase, a jar or a bowl, just big enough to fill it with our
thoughts, written on paper.
If you like, let’s call it our “Jar for empty hands”.
We hold unto nothing, we let go. Keep this practice throughout the process.
The figure we choose to encounter with brings us in a relationship with it.
Ego/form and soul are mirroring themselves. Linking together to connect, to correlate and relate. I like to think of it as ‘sculpturing’ - the figure is already there and we remove everything that’s true or false, that is in the way. We remove every distraction, while letting go of the emotions and thoughts. They are pure energy, just flowing through us. We observe.
The figure stays throughout the whole progress. She changes, of course, but she will not alter in form. It’s like accepting what is, being devotional to what is.
Your painting is a mirror that reveals things about you that were previously invisible. Oftentimes what you learn by looking into this reflection is that what you most need is compassion for yourself. While you create you learn to trust yourself.
This is an ongoing, lifelong process and is not just for the arts.
This Mindful Moment
Draw or paint everything you can think of that is taking place in your immediate environment right now.
Think about what you are thinking, seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and perhaps even tasting.
You may use markers, pastels, crayons, and an array of textures to convey your surroundings, such as crumpled paper, pom-poms, pipe cleaners, or feathers.
Any painting material you like, any additional material.
This mindfulness technique helps stop you from dwelling on your problems and worrying about what happened in the past or what might happen in the future.
Focusing on your senses and immediate environment grounds you and enhances feelings of peace and tranquility.
How can focusing attention on your surroundings help you feel more at ease?
Did you notice a difference in your stress level after working on this exercise?
How many items, sounds, thoughts, and sights did you include in your artwork?
Which of your senses do you think will be most useful when you want to reduce anxiety? For instance, would it involve your sense of hearing (e.g., listening to music), sense of touch (e.g., petting your dog or cat), or sense of taste (e.g., eating a piece of chocolate)?
(Exercise 'This Mindful Moment' is adapted from Susan I. Buchalter, "200 MORE Brief, Creative & Practical Art Therapy Techniques")