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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by finelinebob on August 23, 2006, at 23:54:57
In reply to Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy?, posted by Poet on August 23, 2006, at 13:37:23
> I honestly am insulted by this. Next time I see her I think I'll wrap a poem around my nice red stress ball and bounce it off her head.
So, you're going to resort to a more familiar creative means of expression? Hmmm....
Harry Chapin had a song about how creativity and imagination get stiffled out of us as we grow, actually at a pretty early age. When I was in grad school, me and my housemates tended to have a lot of "theme" parties. When I suggested a "decorate our walls" party they thought I was nuts (as usual, but my nutty party ideas were always smash hits ... especially the poetry slam party). So I went out and bought all sorts of elementary art supplies and we had a grand time, 30 or so of us, making some of the most g-dawful and most intense and most beautiful images out of watercolors, crayons, collages, oh I can't remember that popular elementary school paint that's almost like an oil paint ... and fingerpaints. In fact, the most impressive work of the evening was done in fingerpaint.
Several people have mentioned how the thought, let alone the act, of fingerpainting made them laugh. GOOD! Maybe that's the point. Maybe you'll start with black and red, mix them all around like some hurricane or tornado, and them maybe you'll decide that you want some other colors in there, or you want to do something on a different sheet of paper.
Where's the harm in exploring? Especially if all it makes you do, in the end, is laugh....
Posted by Tabitha on August 24, 2006, at 0:06:59
In reply to Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy?, posted by Poet on August 23, 2006, at 13:37:23
Sounds like fun to me, but I like painting. I start with brushes but end up using fingers and hands a lot too. Fingers work better for blending.
Posted by Racer on August 24, 2006, at 0:24:38
In reply to Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy?, posted by Poet on August 23, 2006, at 13:37:23
Hm...
I think you've already had some great responses, and all I can add is that I've got four cans of shaving cream, about 20 colors of fiber reactive dye, and waaaayyyyy too much rayon crepe that just begs to be "fingerpainted."
And I've got carageenen and paints for marbling, which is like fingerpainting with combs.
And I've got polymer clay, which is almost as good as PlayDoh.
And I've got all sorts of other fun stuff...
Fingerpainting could be cool, Poet -- as long as you want to do it, and aren't just taking her suggestion.
I guess my point -- other than the one on top of my head -- is that I encourage you to roll your eyes at Dr Clueless for suggesting it, but hope you won't reject fingerpainting just because of it. I hope you can consider that fingerpainting is OK, if it ever comes up as something you think about wanting to do.
And you know what? When I do the fiber dyeing equivalent of fingerpainting, I always get great compliments on the results. (Although, for some reason no one ever likes the yellow and red pieces as much as the blue and reds... Hmmm.... I like the yellow and reds best, though, so pooey on them.)
xoxo
Maybe you'll try it with dye, and turn out to have a fabulous career designing fabrics for a fashion house? All because you tried the fingerpainting...
(Ooooh! I've got some other ideas for you, if you ever decide -- I'll shut up now...)
Thanks for the laugh, my friend.
Posted by Estella on August 24, 2006, at 6:56:58
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy? » Poet, posted by Racer on August 24, 2006, at 0:24:38
er... how clueless is dr clueless?
wanna ensure she never suggests that again???get yourself a HUGE piece of paper...
fingerpaint the most HIDEOUS fingerpainting possible (possibly some abstract rorscarch inkblot kinda fingerpainting that just screams beastiality or something similarly obscene - no offence to babblers who may be into that of course)
make some kind of frame for it...
and give it to her as a present for her office:-)
:-)
:-)(i really am wicked, aren't i????? i don't think i could do this, but i got a bit of a laugh out of it)
tee hee
;-)
Posted by Estella on August 24, 2006, at 7:05:06
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy?, posted by Estella on August 24, 2006, at 6:56:58
er...
that being said i used to...
blow paint through straws.
you pour a bit of a blob on the paper and you blow through a straw at it and the blob kinda splatters around the page :-)
i made neurones :-)
it was kinda fun though i was a LOT sceptical to start with.
then i started trying to draw. i really was terrible... but it was kinda fun. then i started to draw these artsy connectionist networks with colourful neurons... could only get 6 to a page (four corners and two each along lengthways) because of course they needed axons and myelin connecting up to every other neuron... i nice interconnected circuit of... nothing. meaninglessness. lol. kept me happily amused for... oh alright... weeks. then i got to painting pots. or more to the point... one pot. i'd try and draw neurons and neural connections... and they had to be connected up with all of the ones on the next layer (don't ask me why). the base of the pot came out quite good but the pot never did. so i'd wash it. it was acrylic so it washed off okay. oh yeah... i pained it with a toothpick. little blobs of paint and i'd smear them around. very zen.:-)
shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
i'm NOT crazy ;-)
Posted by Estella on August 24, 2006, at 7:09:42
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy?, posted by Estella on August 24, 2006, at 7:05:06
ah...
and the next phase in the plan (which i never got to 'cause school started back) was to make a three dimensional model of a neural network. hang it from the ceiling. you know, like how people hang planets sometimes. i was going to make the neurons out of fimo... then i got to thinking about making a three dimensional neural structure out of fimo... but i don't have steady hands... hard to make them and they don't go hard until you bake them and i needed them to be harder to assemble them and bake them.
ah... the problems of life.
(actually AAAAAAAARGH 'cause i was really getting into it about then)
i guess i could have made a wire frame to hold them...
enough already ;-)
Posted by Dinah on August 24, 2006, at 9:29:40
In reply to Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy?, posted by Poet on August 23, 2006, at 13:37:23
I did a bit of fingerpainting back when I was unable to verbalize my feelings well. It actually was mostly black and red. It was meant to symbolize what my stomach felt like, and indirectly what I was feeling emotionally.
I only did it till I got the one picture right. And I don't think my therapist knew quite what to do with it. But fingerpaints were the only thing that could accurately capture my mood, based on their texture. I've still got that picture, in my notebook of things to be destroyed upon my death, and I still smile at how accurately it depicts what it was meant to depict.
I also did a whole color chart of moods in crayons, with a key made from my emotion name list. And I'd point to a color to describe how I was feeling, then work backwards to the word.
On the other hand, I'd have probably rejected fingerpainting as a regular activity. Way too icky and unpleasant on the hands for my taste. (My son hated it for the same reason.)
So... Maybe she's found it a helpful medium for her or for some of her clients to express primitive feelings. Since primitive feelings are sometimes best expressed in primitive painting techniques.
Feel free to reject it, but maybe she meant no insult by it.
Posted by Jost on August 24, 2006, at 11:27:31
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy? » Poet, posted by Dinah on August 24, 2006, at 9:29:40
I don't know about Poet, but I'm about to RUN to my nearest art supply place and buy tons of stuff, from you-guys suggestions.
This is a great thread. I love these ideas.
But, Poet, if Dr. Clueless is really Clueless, you could go back to the first plan, and wrap a black poem around a red ball and just bounce it off her head.
Maybe will jostle the tangled connections free, and she'll start making sense.
Jost
Posted by Fallsfall on August 24, 2006, at 11:35:07
In reply to Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy?, posted by Poet on August 23, 2006, at 13:37:23
11 years ago when I went into the hospital the first time, they wanted me to be a bit more spontaneous. I had a really hard time doing anything that wasn't purposeful and planned. The art room was where we worked on this. After I came home, I spent a bit of time with crayons - scribbling like a 2 year old. I also did some fingerpainting. I think that it helped me to be a little less rigid, to experiment with the idea of feeling rather than thinking. It also let me be a little more childlike - unlike the serious adult I was all the time.
It was valuable for me. But I wasn't trying to get anger and frustrations out.
I also made a basket (which hold my pens on my desk). And I bought some basket making supplies. And Daisy and I spent some time at a Craft show watching a guy make baskets. I made a little basket last week...
Maybe I'm crazy, but I like these things.
Posted by Racer on August 24, 2006, at 13:43:09
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy? » Poet, posted by Fallsfall on August 24, 2006, at 11:35:07
I wanna make baskets! Waaahhhh!
Do I have to start walking East?
Posted by llrrrpp on August 24, 2006, at 17:51:10
In reply to Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy?, posted by Poet on August 23, 2006, at 13:37:23
Poet,
I read this one aloud to my cat and my husband. We both laughed out loud. And my cat looked at me like "WTF? do T's actually get paid for this sh*t?"sorry for my cat's incivility.
-ll
Posted by tryingtobewise on August 24, 2006, at 19:21:22
In reply to Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy?, posted by Poet on August 23, 2006, at 13:37:23
You know, sometimes Ts are just off the mark. Your post made me think about years ago when my husband and I went to meet with a marriage counselor. At the end of our meeting he suggested that in order to build trust and intimacy (or something) we take turns blindfolding and tying each other up, then cooking and feeding stuff to the blindfolded one.
We just sort of nodded and said ok. When we walked out we just laughed and laughed. That was probably the most therapeutic thing about the meeting -- all the laughing at the suggestion. Over a decade later we still threaten each other when we're not getting along..."I guess it's time I tie you up and feed you..."
Anyway, I'm not trying to minimize your frustration at all, but the memory it provoked made me giggle and I thought I'd share.
Kim - married 18+ years without having to blindfold, tie-up, and feed my husband.
Posted by Poet on August 24, 2006, at 20:36:41
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy? » Poet, posted by crazy teresa on August 23, 2006, at 14:26:37
Hi crazy teresa,
I think I could really get into taking wacks at a junker endtable. What would really be satisfying would be to draw her likeness in red and black, of course, right on it.
Then I could tell her in a poem how I improved her idea. Hee. Hee. I like this. I really do.
Poet
Posted by Poet on August 24, 2006, at 20:38:47
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy? » Poet, posted by MidnightBlue on August 23, 2006, at 16:41:19
Hi midnightblue,
I really have zero art talent, but I'm envisioning black hair with a red streak kind of like Cruella DeVille. Hee. Hee.
Poet
Posted by Poet on August 24, 2006, at 20:43:18
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy?, posted by sunnydays on August 23, 2006, at 17:38:22
Hi sunnydays,
I did buy one of my inner children a fairy wand a few years ago- not at any pdoc or Ts suggestion, so I say if you want to color, do it.
I do not want to fingerpaint or paint with a brush. I am not artistic, I tried telling Clueless that I would end up ripping up what I did. I suppose that would be release of anger.
Poet
Posted by Poet on August 24, 2006, at 20:47:34
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy? » Poet, posted by muffled on August 23, 2006, at 18:17:37
Hi Muffled,
What is so funny is that I stink at arts and crafts type things. I cannot draw a stickfigure and refused to play any games like pictionary because nobody would ever have gotten what I drew.
I'm really tempted to actually do it and crumple it up and bring it to her and say *there I got my anger out. BTW it's a portrait of you.*
I'm glad I made you laugh.
Poet
Posted by Poet on August 24, 2006, at 20:49:45
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy? » Poet, posted by sleepygirl on August 23, 2006, at 19:58:06
Hi sleepygirl,
You're right that lots of not so crazy people fingerpaint. They also do other arts or crafts things none of which I like to do. I wasn't trying to put down people who like to fingerpaint I was just trying to say how ridiculous of an idea it is for me.
Poet
Posted by Poet on August 24, 2006, at 20:53:53
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy?, posted by Jost on August 23, 2006, at 20:26:37
Hi Jost,
I don't call her clueless for nothing. If she'd ever read through the volumes of stuff she writes down she might run across where I said I write poetry. Now, asking me to write a poem that expresses frustration and anger is something I can do.
I wonder if her walls are covered in her own art work at home? Perhaps she can have a gallery showing.
Poet
Posted by Poet on August 24, 2006, at 20:59:01
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy? » Poet, posted by finelinebob on August 23, 2006, at 23:54:57
Hi finelinebob,
The harm in exploring is that I know me better than Dr. Clueless does. I don't like arts and crafts projects primarily because I am not good at them. I would immediately rip up anything I fingerpainted which would help get out aggression and frustration, but I don't think that's the purpose of the lesson.
I'd have to have a lot of alcohol in me to do a painting party. Hmm, maybe I can paint with red wine?
Poet
Posted by Poet on August 24, 2006, at 21:00:47
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy?, posted by Tabitha on August 24, 2006, at 0:06:59
Hi Tabitha,
I really don't like painting, even walls. I go crazy trying to have it perfect.
I'm glad you have fun painting and that it helps you. Dr. Clueless wouldn't have been off base about you (and other posters) she just missed the mark for me.
Poet
Posted by Poet on August 24, 2006, at 21:02:40
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy? » Poet, posted by Racer on August 24, 2006, at 0:24:38
Hi Racer,
I'd be happy to help you use up those cans of shaving cream with a good old fashioned silent movie pie fight. Gotta warn you though it stings the eyes.
Poet
Posted by Poet on August 24, 2006, at 21:05:38
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy?, posted by Estella on August 24, 2006, at 7:09:42
Hi Estella,
Dr. Clueless would love you- you're artistic and scientific rolled into one.
I told my T what Clueless (she's my pdoc) suggested and she laughed and shook her head. At least my T gets me.
Poet
Posted by Poet on August 24, 2006, at 21:08:43
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy? » Poet, posted by Dinah on August 24, 2006, at 9:29:40
Hi Dinah,
Well Clueless must have been right about black and red being the colors of choice for her patients.
I agree with you about the mess on my hands. When I paint a wall I get covered with paint- hands, hair, feet (and not just the time I stepped into the bucket.)
I'm glad you had some success with fingerpainting (even with the mess) Dr. Clueless probably has many patients that it works for, it just isn't for me.
Poet
Posted by Poet on August 24, 2006, at 21:12:21
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy? » Poet, posted by Fallsfall on August 24, 2006, at 11:35:07
Hi Falls,
I am not artistic. As a kid I colored and drew, but I'd rather have been reading a book or watching TV.
I don't think I'd be good at basketweaving. All my popsicle boxes I made in girl scouts were lopsided and covered in glue.
I'm glad you're liking your basketweaving. I haven't found an arts or crafts type thing that I like.
Poet
Posted by Poet on August 24, 2006, at 21:14:29
In reply to Re: Fingerpainting Therapy? Do I Seem That Crazy? » Poet, posted by llrrrpp on August 24, 2006, at 17:51:10
Hi Llrrrpp,
Worse- Dr. Clueless is my pdoc. I told my T about it today and she just laughed and shook her head. T knows better than to suggest something like fingerpainting to me.
Glad all three of you got a good laugh out of it. Hey, maybe if I dip one of my cat's tails in paint as a brush...
Poet
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