As an expressive arts coach in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, I am always looking for ways to express myself, as well as get ideas to share with my clients. I signed up for an online experience this year called "The Art Therapy & Happiness Project 2014" with Cathy Malchiodi and Janet McLeod. Along with the great offering of workshops, there have also been several art swaps with people around the world. The most recent swap that I mailed out was an ATC (Artist Trading Card) Swap with the theme of gratitude.
One morning, I sat down at my kitchen table before everyone else woke up. I had my coffee, my pack of ATC cards, my pen, and a set of Crayola watercolor paints. I was ready. I took a few cleansing breaths and reflected upon the feeling of gratitude. Actually, that did not really happen. Here is the truth. I just started making marks with pen in hand. I wrote the word gratitude, over and over, sometimes small, sometimes large. The phrase, "attitude of gratitude" kept creeping into my thoughts. So I wrote that, too.
For me, the act of creating, writing, and painting is what started the cleansing breaths. It happened naturally as my body relaxed into the art making process. Just writing and painting around the word gratitude started the shift. My mind wandered to things that I am grateful for. My internal feelings of gratitude and happiness began to make my heart swell. I started making images of hearts on my ATCs then, too. An attitude of gratitude does tend to open up the heart. Ah, yes, and that feels good.
The title of this post is "I Think I Work Better with a Theme". What I mean by that is this. I have noticed in the last year, first through 21 Secrets LIVE, and now through making projects to swap through the Art Therapy & Happines Project 2014, that themes are good for me. They give me a focus to start the art making process. I usually do not work around themes in my art. I often start with scraping paint or scribbling, or some form of mark making. This works for me, too. However, when I have a theme, like gratitude, to work from, there is a whole mind, body, spirit connection that happens. Without a theme, my mind is left to wonder, "Do I like this?", "Is this good?", which can hinder the creative process. I guess it might all go back to structure. I am the type of person who thrives with structure in my life. When things are too loose and spontaneous, I start to go a little coo coo. So there it is. It finally came out through the process of writing. I like structure, and a theme provides a structure to the art making process.
What is your favorite way to work? Everyone is different in how they learn and like to create. I would love to hear about your creative process, or how you like to start making art. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Here are the results of my gratitude themed ATCs.
Thanks for reading this post.
Have a beautiful day.
And I must ask, what are you grateful for today?
Blessings to you,
Briana
