Posted by pegasus on November 24, 2004, at 13:06:09
In reply to Re: Preverbal pain, includes possible trigger » pegasus, posted by gardenergirl on November 23, 2004, at 0:10:22
Most of the art that I do in therapy is completely free associated. Every now and then I'll realize that I need to do a piece about a particular thing or I'll have a very conscious feeling that I want to express. But I find it pretty helpful to just go in and see what I feel like. A lot of it is doodling. Afterward, I can often talk about the feelings that led to different parts of the doodle. And I can always choose my medium at the last minute, which is good for fitting the art to my current needs. For example, I seem to go for watercolors when I'm sad, and oil pastels when I have a lot of energy, and clay when I have something really complicated, or want something concrete at the end. But it's all just whatever I feel like working with at the moment.
And I have to say that I'm no artist. I love messing around with art supplies, but my skills are pretty limited. That doesn't seem to matter. I just stick to pretty abstracted stuff mostly so I don't get down on my ability to artistically reproduce something that others would recognize.
And yes! about the yucky dark sinister stuff inside us! My therapist actually encourages me to see that part, and depict it if I can. It's in there for certain, and it helps to drag it out and look at it, and try to accept it, I think. Sometimes when I paint a really ugly painting on purpose, and can talk about why I wanted ugly that day, in a supportive environment, it feels really liberating. So much of my life seems to be about making things look pretty.
pegasus
poster:pegasus
thread:418631
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20041123/msgs/419766.html