Tag Archives: art therapy

Colour

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Colour is important in art therapy as it allows the client to express emotions and feelings. The colours may be chosen consciously or unconsciously.

Each colour can convey specific feelings or meanings in the creation of an image. 

By also understanding that there is a positive and negative polarity for the qualities of each colour, it is possible to better interpret one’s emotional state. There may be an instinctual or unconscious response to the use of a particular colour. 

Colour can influence our emotions in a number of ways.

The warm colours (red, orange, yellow) often evoke strong emotions – both positive in energy and negative in that these colours can overwhelm a sensitive person.

Green, blue and purple are classed as cool colours and can evoke calmness although blue in particular, is often associated with sadness or depression. Reaction to a colour can be based on personal experiences with a subconscious association to an event (either happy or sad).

It is also important to take into account cultural and personal interpretations to each colour. 

Some colours have a deep cultural significance, such as the meanings attached to black and white. Black is used for mourning in European countries and white for mourning in some Asian countries

Art Therapy Workshops

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The past few months I have had the opportunity to be presenting lots of workshops, including Art Therapy workshops to a variety of organizations and audiences. The Art Therapy workshops have been face to face, whilst the Emotional Intelligence workshops have either been online or hybrid.

For participants in a group Art Therapy Workshop it can be challenging to know just how much to “share”. At each session I set the boundaries – what is said in the room, stays in the room  and only share if comfortable. Some of the activities are designed to encourage mindfulness.

One activity that springs to mind is “Going Dotty”.  This is a nod to the artistic works of Georges Seurat who created amazing masterpieces using pointillism. My own example of a sunflower shows how solid colour is not necessary to create an image. Taking the time to create it  kept me “in the moment” or mindful.

After it was finished I took some time on reflecting why I chose to create that image. It reminded me of the time I flew across the country  to have a last visit with my mother in hospital. During a break I went to the local shops and there were buckets of sunflowers. I bought a bunch, took it back to the hospital and used them as a focus for a meditation and Reiki session. Something shifted, as my mother recovered and we were able to have a conversation and another visit a year or so later.

Coping Strategies

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Coping strategies as we begin to return to more social contact and are vital in mental health recovery. Effective coping strategies empower you when you take note of and recognize what may trigger you in a crisis situation.  When you have access to these strategies, it will give you a sense of control over some part of your life that otherwise may seem out of control. Managing stress

For example, recognizing that stress is inevitable for everyone at some stage can help to normalize stressful situations. Furthermore, being aware of your response to stress and using more helpful options to manage that stress can help you move towards recovery. Good coping strategies lead to good Emotional Intelligence. Once you are aware of what stressors are most likely to trigger you, then you can start to work on your emotional response in an emotionally intelligent way.

In the workshops and sessions that I facilitate, clients are offered a variety of simple, yet effective strategies to help them cope with the ever changing landscape that we encounter as we navigate to our “new normal”.

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Workplace Art Therapy

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Why Workplace Art Therapy?

A workplace art therapy program has benefits for both the employer and employee in that for the employer, it can fulfill their workplace health and wellbeing criteria, lower stress in employees as well as increasing productivity, creativity and performance.

Art therapy in the workplaceParticipating in a workplace art therapy program encompasses relaxation techniques and can be described as a preventative measure in addressing employee stress.

Staff and management alike can experience art therapy sessions as a part of a “Wellness in the Workplace” program that actively encourages mindfulness and creativity which has benefits beyond the session.

As the participants focus on any particular exercise, their conscious minds can be distracted from their daily tasks and demands of the job. When stress is reduced  with a tailored art therapy and EI program,  you can look forward to increased performance and achievement, better decision making and productivity.

How does it work?

Firstly, it would be necessary to discuss the length of a session or sessions; how many participants; their physical needs; and finally the venue itself. When working in a corporate environment, it is taken into account if the venue is most likely to be unsuited to having paint or clay used. It is also necessary to ascertain that there are no materials that may have an adverse effect (such as glues) on the health of the participants. Introductory sessions would include a guided meditation followed by doodling or Mandalas where there would be no prerequisite for artistic comparison.

For more details contact me via the form below:

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Grief

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Using Art as a therapy during a time of grief allows you to express your thoughts, feelings and emotions. This can be done in a variety of non verbal ways such as painting, drawing or clay work.

Other non verbal ways of expression, such as journaling and letter writing that help define what the event or deceased person meant to you allow you to start the healing process.

Guided visualizations and  Reiki can help relax you.  As you allow the body and mind to relax you can begin to sort out conflicting emotions. Therefore by using art therapy activities, your healing takes place at a deeper level and many people find that they are better equipped to move forward.

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Five Day Challenge

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A five day challenge for the fifth Melbourne lockdown…. five day challengeArt therapy is a great way to reduce stress. This five day challenge is designed so you can take five minutes or so to focus on a shape and change it with simple lines and colours.

When we are engaged in doing something that we love to do, hormones such as Dopamine, Serotonin and Oxytocin (happy hormones) are released and stress is reduced. As stress is reduced, wellbeing is increased. You may discover or rediscover something that you wanted to do as a child and put aside due to societal or cultural expectations. The pursuit of this activity and the joy in doing it will often bring about a great sense of satisfaction and completion. Not only that, when you are engaged in your passion, your inner energy is apparent and you will radiate that out to those around you.

The challenge is on my Facebook page if you would like to contribute your creation.  I used Yellow for happiness & positivity; green for renewal & energy ( full moon tomorrow); blue for intuition, imagination and understanding, and a spiral path to lead inward and outward.

Day 1 challenge

Emotions

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art and emotionsAs emotions arise from our thoughts, then it is more than likely that they are influenced by events, people, places and circumstances that we have experienced from the time we are born until the time that we die.

By helping you to examine the thought processes around your emotions and looking at the beliefs around the feelings generated and subsequently changing those beliefs, a better understanding of the emotions experienced is possible. Some emotions however, are elicited by an unconscious reaction to a stimulus.

It is my role to help you discover the original stimulus even if it were long forgotten or experienced at a time when you were non-verbal. Art therapy allows you to access these unconscious stimuli through the creation of images and subsequent analysis and interpretation.

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Lockdown

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Another day, another lockdown. We can choose how we respond to these times and I won’t go  into the politics of whether it is right or wrong or who may be at fault. What I will do is to choose to use this time as a reset, a chance to create and as we move into winter…… perhaps a little hibernation.

I’m taking my own advice and doing a little art therapy to relax my mind and take myself away from listening to or watching the news. Having created some mandalas for an online program, I’d like to share one with you so that you can relax a  little during this lockdown or circuit breaker.

Download it HERE.

If you don’t have a supply of colour pens or pencils – not to worry, I did one using just a black pen and lines and I think it turned out OK!

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Art for Art’s sake

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find yourself in artCreating a work of art…. how often have you heard (or even told yourself) someone say that they are not creative or they are “no good at art”?

Let me tell you a secret………

You don’t have to be an accomplished artist or proficient in techniques to create a work of art. Doing an “art activity” is more than creating an artistic masterpiece. The act of creating an image engages the kinaesthetic as we move pens/pencils/brushes; the visual as we choose colours and shapes; and perhaps even the auditory senses as we hear our chosen implements move across canvas or paper.

Take a mandala or a picture from one of those popular colouring books. I have given these out in workshops and am always delighted to see such variation in colours and textures from the same pattern given to everyone.  Some chose to create their work of art with many colours, others with just a few and some made a bold statement by using a black fineliner.  Each one was a work of art in its own way, because while the participant was creating and getting in touch with their inner artist, they lost their conscious filters as they engaged in mindfulness. Many were surprised at how the time had flown past, demonstrating that they had entered into an altered state of consciousness where time had no meaning.

I have an upcoming stress management workshop that I will be putting online and it will incorporate an “art activity” as a precursor to the inner work to be done on identifying stressors.  Keep an eye out for the announcement of the online course!

Art Therapy

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How can Art Therapy help in our current times?  But what if I’m not “good” at art or “don’t have an artistic background”.  These and more questions have been asked of me in recent days. I have responded with examples of my own portfolio which demonstrates that I am not necessarily an accomplished artist. It is about the symbolic nature of what you create and bringing to your conscious mind feelings or emotions that need resolution. What you do with it later, can be either even more creative or cathartic. Art Therapy is more about the Therapy than being an accomplished artist.

Art helps with feelings of sorrow, particularly the medium of photography. It can convey the immediacy of a situation and captures – particularly in black and white – to the collective and subconscious emotions of the viewers.

Situations viewed through the photographic lens allow the viewer to simultaneously view an event whilst experiencing it as a disconnected viewer. Focus and contrast can be easily manipulated to draw the eye to a specific area. This is beneficial, in that emotion that may not have been otherwise expressed or subconsciously repressed can be brought to the fore and by the expression of same, healing can begin.