Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Creative Arts can be applied to bibliotherapy

http://intuitivecreativity.typepad.com/expressiveartinspirations/100-art-therapy-exercises.html 

Because I believe that bibliotherapy, at its best, requires a process exercise, here are a few art therapy examples that only need a book attached. There are so many ways to approach this creatively. The advantage to not just writing about a book, or even talking about a book, centers around getting out of the left brain and letting the right brain work with the story. 

Spontaneous Collage

  • Self Nurture
    Spontaneous Collage is a form of daily play. Easy. Picking a few images that strike you as fascinating in some way and gluing them in your journal. Spontaneous imagery reveals you like a dream and lets you know what your unconscious mind is thinking and feeling.

Stream of Consciousness Drawings

  • Celebration
    Free form doodling can become an eloquent form of expressive art that just gets more and more refined over time. Doodling allows the subconscious mind to express itself. Much about the inner life can be revealed though doodling.

Intuitive Drawing

  • Letting Go
    Intuitive drawing is an immediate way to tap into the mystery of your life below the everyday happenings. It is helpful to take time to quiet your mind and go into your body before you draw. Allow your pen to move without giving it much thought. Ask questions. Listen for messages. They are always surprising and just below your conscious thought.

Collage Journal

  • Fortress
    Collage journaling is vivid and magical. It never takes long to gather a pile of images and words. Journals are a place to gather insights and inner directions on what to do next. Collage journal pages playfully sneak under your limited and conditioned ways of seeing my life and lead you to a higher vision for yourself.

Self-Discovery Cards

  • Collage for Self-Discovery
    Each Self-Discovery card is an exploration into what you do not clearly see about yourself. Every collage card reveals an aspect of your soul and psyche. By visually seeing the masks that you wear and the patterns of thinking and feeling that help and hinder you, you become able to integrate all the fragmented aspects of yourself so that you can be more effective in life.

Mini Collages

  • Truth
    These are small playful collages. 4"x6". The aim is to experiment and play and to work quickly with color, composition, shape and pattern. These are an exploration of what you might find beautiful, joyful and delightful using paint and collage. A contemplation on beauty to carry through your day.

Art Journals

  • Childhood
    Art journals are a form of devotion. They are experimental and a great place to explore new materials and techniques. An excellent way to record a creative and immediate life.

Spontaneous Painting

  • Tree
    True creativity requires great honesty if it is to be transformative. Paint what you feel, not what you think! The conscious mind has no part in this process. "Still mind. I don't know." is a mantra that you can repeat while painting. Venturing into the unknown parts of yourself, pulls forth all of those feelings that have been locked up and tranquilized. A new freedom floods in. There is energy and passion in the unexpected.

Spontaneous Pastels

  • Joy
    This is a series of mark making with pastel crayons. An innocent, intuitive exploration of color and spontaneity. A playing with crayons, much like a child, these drawings are a visual meditation which can draw you into mystery. Ask your drawings what they have to tell you and they speak back through your intuition...guiding you.