After many years of anxiety, depression and general emotional distress, things finally came to a head when I was made redundant. I found myself in a frightening place, unable to move forward. Several months into this difficult period, it was like part of my mind became unblocked. Suddenly my mind was filled with creative visions of my experience which demanded to be expressed in physical form. I started first with pencil sketches and then moved on to acrylic paintings.
My pictures seek
- to express the experiences that I am having.
- to explore topics which are on my mind.
- to externalise the difficult feelings that I am experiencing instead in internalising them.
- to provide self nurturing and reminders of positive messages to myself.
- to communicate to others, an example of what experiencing mental health issues is like.
- to inspire others to use art forms to explore and express difficult thoughts and feelings.
To date, I have taken no courses in drawing or painting. My pictures seek to express a thought as best I can; accurate depictions of physical objects is not a priority in my work.
Some of the pictures reflect difficult themes, including self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Some of the pictures may be upsetting or triggering to some people.
I’ll post the pictures created over the past few months chronologically first, and then add new pictures as they are created.
Update January 2016: Since September 2015 I have been attending a Textile Art and Creative Stitches leisure course at my local college. I will include the techniques learned during this course in this blog as they are part of my ongoing artistic journey.
Love this blog idea! I can relate to years of depression and anxiety and look forward to seeing your artwork!
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Thank you 🙂
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Sending you my best wishes. I completed an art therapy workshop with a group of women recently for the first time — it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. The combination of having a safe, supportive group of women plus expressing my soul in a tangible form to be witnessed by them was so powerful. And something I need much more of! A.
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Thank you for your wishes and for reading my blog. I hope that you are able to continue to use art in your recovery journey. Take care.
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I scrolled through some of your most recent posts just now and thought I would leave you a note to express my appreciation for what you’re doing and also to send you my support on your “soul journey.” I notice that I made a comment on this “About” page about six weeks ago just after completing an art therapy workshop for the first time. Well, six weeks later and I have definitely been building on that experience — my right brain is getting into gear and it feels so…. “right.” I appreciate the mindful descriptions of your process posted underneath each of your artworks. I want to thank you, also, for taking the time to read and “like” some of my posts — it means a lot to me. Sending you my best. A.
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Thank you very much 🙂
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