Drawing to Calm Anxiety

Dear Wonderful, Creative Yous:

Whether you are quarantined at dwelling house, or an essential worker going out into the world to brand sure the residuum of united states get our needs met, nigh of us are feeling broken-hearted, out of sorts, and mostly unsure of what to do with ourselves, at least some of the time. I talked in my last mail near some coping skills that accept helped me arrange to life in quarantine, and how art is a part of that. Merely I want to share specifically today most using cartoon to calm anxiety with something I call slow drawing.

Why should you slow draw? What is it?

It'southward possible that others ascertain this a bit differently, merely for me, slow drawing is a mindful practice whereI movement my pen at a slower pace than usual and really pay attending to the process. It's a mindfulness practice. Mindfulness is simply paying attending to what you are doing in the moment.

And so when I tiresome draw, I take an intention to observe the procedure with curiosity. Marvel is a wonderful skill because it disengages judgment, and engages presence. When nosotros tin can stop thinking well-nigh what we should exist doing, checking the telephone, worrying virtually what will happen next and just be present to what we are doing right now, it'southward a relief. This kind of singular focus is an fantabulous mindfulness practice. (It's also neat for us artists, trying to go the inner critic to accept a suspension so we tin can explore with our art materials.)

One of the reasons I think fine art lends itself to mindfulness practise and so well is because it's a sensory experience. Equally I boring draw, I am watching to see how the lines announced on the page. I notice the slight bumps that announced, especially as I'm warming upwardly, or how the line is impacted if I breathe a certain style. Rather than trying to perfect or judge a tiresome cartoon, I'one thousand just curious well-nigh what's going to happen next, and what the experience is like.

I go curious virtually how the pen feels in my hand – is it smooth? Warm or absurd? Is my grip light, or tin I feel the hard side of the pen pressing into my finger? I listen for the sound of the pen moving across the page. Can I hear it?

And every bit I tune into the process of cartoon a simple, repetitive pattern, and noticing the process through my senses, something amazing happens. My animate slows downwardly. I feel my muscles relax. I offset to enjoy the process of watching the lines appear, getting playful and curious about what would happen if I fabricated this or that small modify. I beloved to scout the lines go darker equally the ink overlaps on itself, and see what happens as a line ventures into uncharted territory on the page.

Intentionally slowing down is a powerful process. There is and then much telling us to hurry upward, be productive, even in this time of quarantine. I beloved having an invitation to go every bit slow as you wish; information technology's a relief.

Benefits of Slow Drawing

+It'due south an active meditation, which for many of us is easier than closing our optics and focusing on the breath. We shed worries while we describe. It's important to have a break from all the stress and worry right now.

+You have permission to focus on the process, not the production of cartoon. Sometimes we need permission to allow go of perfectionism and but do something because it feels skilful. That's a practiced quarantine coping skill in my book.

+You tin piece of work in series,which allows you to experiment and attempt lots of variations. This will helps yous observe what you like artistically, and amend your skills. Working a series also helps considering you lot don't take the pressure of coming up with a new idea each mean solar day.

To help folks learn this process, I did a Slow Drawing + Watercolor Bursts workshop last week, and we adept tiresome cartoon many dissimilar variations on a simple form. If you missed the replay window, or you lot just want to practise the visualization, drawing and painting once again with me, I'm making the slow cartoon classes bachelor at CoronaCoping pricing for simply $14 and so that equally many folks can take reward every bit possible. (Unremarkably a video class this length would be $39.)

I'd love to hear about your feel with slow drawing and how it's helping yous cope.

Creatively Yours,

Amy​

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Source: https://mindfulartstudio.com/drawing-to-calm-anxiety/

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