Has it ever happened to you that you started creating a piece of Art, you had begun to follow a particular Technique and suddenly you have this urge to allow your brush strokes to add something to that Artwork, which looks like ‘not so fitting’ into that Technique but you still ‘feel good’ about it OR you’ve started filling up colors in the boxes and suddenly want all your color to spread beyond those outlines OR you’ve been doing a beautiful Artwork, following a reference Picture or a Guideline and suddenly you’ve this urge to create free flowing Abstract Art or put your ‘visions’ on the Canvas, OR you’re following a structured Project but have this one part of you wishing, “Oh..I wish I could go beyond these boundaries and bring more creative ideas into the system” and so on…?
If yes, then ever thought what part of you leads you to these thoughts?
Well, experience this Article fully to know what Part of you is that, which is seeking Attention!
This morning I picked up an Adult Coloring Book as one of my daily Meditative practices. I opened a random page and started coloring it. Before doing that, I closed my eyes and invited my “inner child” to join and have fun together.
This Inner Child is part of us since the time we are born and always stays with us. However, Life’s conditioning, stresses and traumas at times, end up suppressing this Inner Child and Adult takes over. It’s that part of us which is very playful by nature, is in its pure natural form but perhaps was made to behave as a responsible Adult during Childhood, because of Family Conditioning and many other factors. It is that part of us that had become too scared to express as it was constantly told to follow the rules or told that expressing ourselves is bad, Anger is bad or tears are bad. It was suppressed before it could fully bloom and we unknowingly allowed that to happen, until it started seeking attention by creating not so good patterns in our lives, in our work, in our relationships, with ourselves and alike..
How do we heal then? By working with our Inner Child, by being a Parent to it, by acknowledging its Presence, by communicating with it, by giving it a safe place inside our Heart where it’s fully allowed to bloom and open itself and discover and explore and express, by nurturing it. Without re-connecting with your inner child, it’s not possible to FULLY feel ‘Self-Love’..
With that thought in my mind, I invited that little part of me to join me and fill colors on that page. I asked it, “So which color do you want me to pick?” It answered, “Red and Green”.. I picked Red and Green colors and started coloring the Page. I dedicatedly started filling the lines and shapes very neatly so as to be careful not to let the color spill out of those lines as a part of me is so addicted to Perfection.
Here are those perfectly filled shapes:
However, I suddenly heard talking to myself, “Oh, this feels so boring, too structured, I want to break the symmetry, I want to choose different colors for the other side of the page and fill the ‘Fish’ with Red color instead of silver, I want to add dots to it, I want to make a Poker face of the Fish….
I instantly paused.
For a moment, I was like, “Oh….who’s this talking to me?” and I realized it was that little inner child whom I had invited to become a part of this coloring fun. I closed my eyes and an image of me (from when I was 7-8 years old) flashed, and I started talking to that little me. The little ‘Me’, wanted to have more fun as it was always told to follow a structure and now it was getting too much for her to not to allow herself to explore. She wanted to be more creative as that’s where she was feeling Joy, that’s where she felt safe and being able to fully express herself..
I let her BE!!
I instinctively started picking random colors and let myself put dots or hearts or whatever that little me wanted to create. I allowed myself to color the Fish a bit differently and let the color spill out of the shape and I started adding dots and other things “outside” the boundaries of those shapes.
Here’s the picture of little Me’s “not-so-perfect” coloring bit. There are unusual colors being filled into shapes, coloring done not so perfectly or neatly, as I was now enjoying this ‘Imperfection’…this flow of Free Expression, this Joy…
This morning meditative coloring practice brought me an insight into how Expressive Arts Therapy can help us face, acknowledge and communicate with our inner conflicts, those different parts of us that are constantly seeking attention so that they are heard and the inner conflicts are beautifully resolved.
Do invite your Inner Child to paint, draw, create, color, dance, sing, cook…with you next time, when you decide to give time to yourself. Also notice, what conflicting thoughts come to Surface while you’re engaged in doing Art.
Happy nurturing yourself! 🙂
Love,
Preet 🙂
[Art That Connects]
For knowing more about how to deeply connect with yourself using Expressive Arts, please read my other blog posts.
4. Once this Outline is ready, pick any of the sections and start filling it with whatever comes to you. It could be simple shapes like circles, lines or floral patterns or anything else. If you get an urge to simply fill in the section with shading, go for it! . Focus only on drawing, at this moment. Repeat it for all the sections. This is how i ended up doing it:
5. Allow mistakes and create something out of those. For instance, if you notice a line crossing the boundary of that section or color getting smudged over or something not looking right to you, just allow it to BE! Continue from there. In the picture below, notice how a line is crossing into the other section and how i continued from there and a new pattern emerged without me erasing the line. That is the whole beauty of this technique!
5. Once you feel that it’s completed, SLEEP OVER IT, literally! Whenever you pick it up again, just sit back and observe it. Notice what it conveys to you. There is usually a pattern that your inner self conveys to you through this therapeutic form of self-expression. Those patterns continue to emerge when you repeat this whole exercise multiple times as your inner emotions continue to out-pour on paper, layer after layer.
art blog by preet 