Learn..How to Unmask Emotions Using Art

Creativity is a combination of discipline and a childlike spirit. ~ Robert Greene

FOLLOW THESE STEPS:

1. Pick a pen and paper.

2. Take a deep breath and loosen up your hands. The idea is to allow free movement of your hand and let it take charge. When your hand starts to move freely, you’ll notice that the chatter of your mind is going away and you start to enjoy the free movement of hand on paper.

3. Without lifting the pen, start drawing lines on paper. Straight or curved, as it comes. Let shapes evolve on their own. This’ll create an Outline for what you’ll follow next. Here is an example: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!

4. Start filling other sections in the same manner and stop only when you feel like. Fill in space if you want. You might want to complete this in one go or do it as and when you want. The idea is to enjoy the whole exercise while you continue to recognize its benefits. At times, I allow my inner self to take over and i pick the same piece of work for a few minutes each morning. With the following Artwork, i reached that sense of completion after about 3 weeks of starting it. [More on what COMPLETION signifies here, in my upcoming articles. So keep following.]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.

Witholding “manifests” itself in an “outpouring” that is the giving of a gift”. Mark C.Taylor

You’ll notice something common in the artworks that you come up with post this exercise. I did this exercise a couple of times (including once on a Canvas) recently and noticed a common pattern that to me, looked like a MASK. In my following artworks (some have still not reaced that completion stage for me), you’ll notice a Mask like pattern.

Do it and see what your inner self conveys to you. After a busy day at work, you’ll find doing it even more relaxing and calming.

(More techniques on analyzing these patterns..in my upcoming articles).

Do share your lovely experiences after completing this exercise. Post your outcome in the comments if you wish.

With Love,  Preet 🙂