Drawing Out the Sadness

Me age 5 and my best friend ... in the middle of a mega fight. Not feeling too happy right there. 

Let's face it. Life can't just be peachy all the time. This last week has been one of those less than peachy ones for me and so I thought it might be a great opportunity to talk about something that making art is amazing for. Making art it great at getting you to work through your problems. You can literally make a drawing and draw some of your sadness and anger out of you, just by making it. You don't even really need to try especially hard. It will just end up happening if you allow yourself the time to sit down, put a pen, pencil or marker in your hand and just let go of thinking actively about your problems and instead letting things just come out.

Kids are great at doing this instinctually. Here is a drawing from a little buddy of mine that her mom sent to me in the mail. The girl was feeling a bit sad and so she made a drawing of her being sad. How clever is that? Take note adults, because just like it helped this girl feel better I bet it can do the same thing for you.

Here is a drawing I had made a while back of myself when I was having a bit of an 'un-great'day. Sort of the same concept, right? How does art do that you ask? Well, I think it's a bit of magic and a bit of common sense. The common sense part being that if you allow yourself to express something that is bugging you in one way or another you will find that this acknowledging of the problem will actually help you solve and the problem, and magic, because there is also that part of you that will be able to work through a problem in so many different types of creative ways. You don't even realize you are working through it. You could just be colouring-in a beautiful image and letting your mind relax. Art therapy anyone?