How can you incorporate art into your daily rhythms?
There are many ways to incorporate art into your life and many benefits to doing so. Art is a form of expression. Creating art stimulates the brain. It teaches creative thinking. It relieves stress. It improves quality of life. And best of all, everyone can do it!
There are many reasons people shy away from art and creativity. The biggest misconception is that you have to have artistic talent. Let me assure you that as a child you never questioned your ability to play, to create and imagine, to scribble and design and build. It is natural for children and is part of who you are. We just grow up to be adults who think that you have to be a visual artist selling paintings in an art gallery or a professional bakery chef, or runway fashion designer in order to create. We think if we didn’t go to school and learn all of the techniques that we couldn’t possibly create something or engage in artistic activities. I encourage you to throw away all of those ideas and try to remember what it was like when you were three and making soup for your dolls in your pretend kitchen or working the construction site in your backyard sandbox. When you were two and got your hands in the finger-paint and spread the slippery gooiness all over the paper, feeling the texture, connecting to your senses. There is something about letting go and letting yourself get lost in a simple act of coloring, or moving paint around on a page, or re-purposing that old skirt into a pillow. There are so many possibilities when it comes to art and the inspiration is everywhere!
Questions to Ponder:
- Where do you see art in nature? Try gathering inspiring treasures such as small rocks, leaves, flowers, sticks, driftwood? Do they inspire you to create anything? How do they feel? smell? look?
- Have you tried art journaling? How about bible journaling? In addition to writing words in a journal you can also add images. Or start with words or a scripture verse and respond to it with images.
- Have you tried coloring? Do adult coloring books interest you? Have you tried coloring a mandala?
- Have you tried doing simple art projects with your kids? Watch how they create and what they do. Their lack of rules and critiques. Their exploration with materials.
- Have you ever tried making art in response to music? Have you tried just moving your pen or colored pencil to the rhythm and movement of the music? Try several different types of music and see how you respond.
Want a more in depth look at the benefits of art? Check out this article.
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