Art therapy: drawing

So I am still working on doing some drawing as personal art therapy. I find it an effective pain distraction as I have to be intent on my focus on what I am doing.

I have been teaching myself because we do not have art therapy in our area. Some of the art I have produced has just been winging it and some have been from an art book I ordered. I am an amateur but I used to draw when I was young. But everyone is an amateur when they begin a hobby and there is something awesome about the slow progression of improvement. It is satisfying. I don’t think we necessarily have to be Awesome at art therapy, by the way, just express ourselves. Get that emotion out in a positive way. Be creative. Distract from the pain. Creativity comes with a lot of its own benefits.

• “Art filled occupational voids, distracted thoughts of illness”
• “Improved well–being by decreasing negative emotions and increasing positive ones”
• “Improved medical outcomes, trends toward reduced depression”
• “Reductions in stress and anxiety; increases in positive emotions”
• “Reductions in distress and negative emotions”
• “Improvements in flow and spontaneity, expression of grief, positive identity, and social networks” James Clear

As you guys might know my main passion is writing (blogging, non-fiction, poetry at times, and my fantasy fiction books under my pen name) And I do love being creative as a way to get out the emotions I am feeling in a positive way. Drawing and art is just a Different more visual way of doing that.

These I produced freehand from my own brain ball

And then I have been refining my skills from the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. 

Which is a book for beginners to just get those basic skills to look at the world a little differently. I recommend it really if you are starting out or refining old skills. Or need a refresher. It is Not a How-to book. It is teaching you to look at shape and empty space and shading and angles… all the things you need to draw anything. And it goes through certain things like hands, profiles, a chair, distance… things like that.

These are some of the things I have practiced by using the book

Hands- which I had a real hard time with but now I am quite improved at

And then the latest is side profile portraits (first sucked but then I read the lesson again and did it again and then it turned out well. I will do a few more before I am satisfied I have this lesson Down)

With my dizziness being as bad as it has been lately I can’t get out and about much or Do much so I found this to be something I can sometimes do from a prone position. On the days I have the energy to do so. And I love that I create I can appreciate. It brings me some joy. And that is all that matters really when it comes down to it.

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See more on art therapy

New Hobby: Drawing and art therapy