My Love and Struggle with Emotions and Art
Hello readers and happy late Easter!
This week was especially interesting because I was able to see my research come to life! ASU’s School of Counseling and Counseling Psychology hosted a pop-up art exhibit to showcase works done by students in an Expressive Therapies for Counseling class. Some of the works were examples of art therapy methods I read about in a previous article, like the “My Safe Place” activity. This is where the client would draw a place that makes them feel safe and think of that artwork whenever they feel overwhelmed by emotions to help them relax.
I also saw some art activities that weren’t mentioned in the previous article I read. Based on my research, I believe these activities have the possibility to help individuals who self-harm. The “Self-Hug” activity has the client draw a figure hugging themselves to encourage self-care and recognize their positive qualities. Self-hatred and punishment of one’s self can be a component of self-harm for some individuals so the “Self-Hug” activity can likely help counteract that mindset. Another activity, also my favorite activity I saw in the exhibit, was called “Fallen Leaves.” This is where people will go outside, collect leaves, draw a tree branch, and glue the leaves onto the branch while thinking about things they’ve had to let go of in their lives. For individuals who use self-harm as a way to regain a feeling of control, this activity may help them recognize and accept that some things are out of their control.
The exhibit also had an area for people to try one of the art activities themselves, so I was able to try out Neurographic Art! This is where the client draws a continuous, freeform line on the page, rounds out the sharp edges, and colors or draws designs in the spaces created by the line. It helps create a calm/meditative state of the mind and promotes creative/emotional expression. I really enjoyed doing this activity and loved choosing and coloring the spaces the most. Personally in my experience, I definitely felt more relaxed and in the moment while doing this activity and honestly a bit sad when I finished it. It doesn’t require any fancy art materials or art experience, so I would encourage you all to give it a try!
I’m also nearly finished with my shadowy figure painting! I’m really happy with the result so far, but it was a battle trying to get it done. I first tried to blend the figure into the background and make the background appear more like swirls, which was my original idea for the painting. After taking a look at the result, I thought it did not represent the numb feeling I wanted to portray and appeared too chaotic. I tried to blend it to fix it, but in my eyes it just seemed to get worse. Quite honestly, by this time, I became really frustrated with the painting and didn’t even want to look at it. I avoided it for two days, as I was so scared to face it, thinking just touching it would make things worse again. I realized that my emotions might have been interfering with my painting, so I’m glad I took a break from it to regather my thoughts.
After the two days, I decided I needed to change my idea because even though it looked good in my head, it did not portray the message I wanted on the physical canvas. At a time I felt more calm and encouraged to tackle the painting, I took the risk and switched from swirls to just straight lines across the canvas. I was much happier with the look of this background, as I believe it looks more calm and brings out the numb feeling. I added the lightning strike the next day using white paint first to ensure the color would really pop. I will definitely be finishing both paintings this week so stay tuned!
*Note: my mentor is currently out of the country, so she was not able to double check the accuracy of phrasing and information of this post.
Comments:
All viewpoints are welcome but profane, threatening, disrespectful, or harassing comments will not be tolerated and are subject to moderation up to, and including, full deletion.