from our newsletter, written by Linda Lin, RCC, CCC, RCAT

Underpaintings and impasto paintings* always reminded me of the history an artwork holds:

The layers upon layers of buried marks, hidden tries, vibrant stories and editions within a painting (aka. an experience). 

They remind me of the dimensions and depth of heartwork, that can capture the sad and longing parts of grief and their gifts of creation and fulfillment that comes with heartwork.

* Underpainting is referred in traditional art as a thin wash or layer that you build on your image; playing with tones, to create depth. 

Impasto painting is a technique in which paint is applied to a surface in a thick and textured manner, creating a three-dimensional effect.

Map of Grief / Gifts of Grief

Here’s your art therapy prompt:

In this practice, we will be tending to underpainting and impasto painting not as techniques, but as encouragement to make marks on a fresh blank canvas, revisit and build on our images as a container for your emotions. 

Here are the materials you will be playing with:

Your choice of paint**: watercolours, acrylic paint, gouache or oil

Your choice of pencils/crayons: pens, pencil crayons, watercolour pencils

Your choice of materials that represent gifts: cool stickers, sparkly gel pens, dried pressed flowers, glitter, etc. 

Part 1: A Wash ⽔ (water)

• Start off with a thin wash of your choice of paint as a base. 
• Let it dry.

Part 2: Depth ⼟ (earth)

• Layer on with additional washes, or working your choice of pencils/crayons, add onto your image to create interest or depth. 

• You may choose to play with symbols and metaphors in mind throughout this process.

• You can add as many layers as you wish.

Part 3: The Gifts ⼼ (heart)

• Hopefully this is a fun and enjoyable part: add on your coolest stickers, draw with sparkly gel pens, glitter, to represent the gifts of heartwork. 
• Play with symbols and metaphors in mind and let your unique processing run free!

• You may even choose to revisit the image again and again to add or edit more layers and insights.

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**Please note that the more fluid the paint is, the less control you may have with the medium of choice. With this in mind, choose what you currently have emotional capacity for. Work with water-based paints with water-based pens and pencils or oil-based paints with oil-based crayons.

After you finish your art piece…

In a notebook or on a piece of paper (it can be on the back of your art piece too), scribble and note down anything that is within your capacity to reflect on from this exercise.

Here are reflection questions for you:

• Were there any moments of slowing down, points in time yearning for attention from you?

• If resistance showed up: can you name what tried to protect you from going into this exercise or going into points of your grief that may be too big to handle in the moment. You are welcome to draw the resistance out too.

How did that go for you? If you wanted to share your artwork or thoughts, feel free to email me at linda@deciphercounselling.com.

Save this art therapy prompt and know you don’t have to complete this and take parts of the prompt if it lands well for you. If you know someone who may need this, sharing is caring :)

Thanks so much for being here.

 The Floating Perspective, popularized by Guo Xi (郭熙), a Chinese painter from the Song dynasty, is the type of perspective commonly seen in historical Chinese art with sceneries where there is not a single view of a subject, but rather several shown at the same time, shifting from near to far vignettes.

 

I wanted to bring this creative way of relating our what we go through into art as therapy and I have an art prompt for you!

 

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Here's your art as therapy prompt: 
An Image of Concern
 

Draw out a concern* you want to view or acknowledge from (a) perspective(s) that is supportive, from (an) angle(s) that is safe-enough for your capacity at this moment.

 

*If you don’t like drawing or painting, you are so welcome to make digital art, create a collage, a sculpture or look for images on Pinterest that can represent what your concern is. Ideas here are limitless!

 

Exploring your image of concern from different angles can look like:

• peeking in: through a barrier (like glass window, or from a door)

• zooming out

• from a birds eyed view

• through a container with the problem inside

• inviting in someone you trust

• like that iceberg visual aid to see what’s on the surface and what may be underneath …and more…

You are welcome to alter and change this perspective whenever you revisit this image in the future.

Please be mindful of the sizing, material, border, making sure the materials you choose can hold your image of concern.

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

And some reflection questions when you finish your art making process:

 

• What is it like to express this concern into an image?

• How do you relate to your concern; and is there a shift with how you relate to your image of concern?

• Is there a portion of this concern that is externalized (aka. you are no longer holding onto or blaming yourself for)?
 

• How do you receive context from your lived experience of your concern vs. your image of concern? 

Receiving context can be: information gathering, perspective taking, the organizing of the story of concern, getting feedback etc. (ask Chat GPT: "how do humans receive context from a problem in their life?" if you're stuck here)

How did that go for you? If you wanted to share your artwork or thoughts, feel free to email me at linda@deciphercounselling.com.

Save this art therapy prompt and come back to it for another day. If you know someone who may like this, share this prompt with them!

Thanks so much for being here and trying something new!

“Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art; the art of words…the name of our beautiful reward is not profit, it is freedom.”

— Ursula Le Guin 

“This is not how a human face looks” “The proportion is not right”

At first, resistance towards making art sounds like the inner critic.

That “my drawing is not up to par so I am not an artist”. 

 

I’ve been noticing that these critiques are ideas that originated from colonialism of what art is and isn’t.

Colonization of art has changed the way we see art culturally, politically and socially. 

Under censorship and control (aka. capitalism), our creative practices has become commodified - where art should be made for profit and for some form of gain.

Art is an act of resistance

How can we start to make art for ourselves as resistance from colonialism and for joy?

How can we connect with our images and art making that isn’t based from a lens towards the fine arts?

…working with art and images as a means to resist socio-political oppression.

Anti-oppressive art therapists are working to reclaim our creative practice and decolonize art making with art therapy and contesting to structural oppression from the psychotherapy field.

Shaun McNiff wrote in his book, Trust the Process: An Artist's Guide to Letting Go, that “art therapists are like refugees from the art world”. I’d like to think of us as rebels of the art world instead.

So how have you been rebelling in your creative practice?

“All of that art-for-art’s-sake stuff is BS. What are these people talking about? Are you really telling me that Shakespeare and Aeschylus weren’t writing about kings? All good art is political! There is none that isn’t. 

I’m not interested in art that is not in the world. And it’s not just the narrative, it’s not just the story; it’s the language and the structure and what’s going on behind it.”

―Toni Morrison

Some forms of art as resistance I have been working with are: 

• Making zines: a form of self-publishing art that came from feminist, activist movements popularized from the 80s. When I first started working as an art therapist, I created a workshop called, Zine Therapy (I was obsessed with making them). Zines are easy to distribute, low budget, and the content is filtered through the creator’s POV. My current faves are by Bianca ✨

• Cartoons and memes: sometimes opinionated, other times sensitive, maybe brightly coloured or humorous, through a critical lens through doodles/animations or storytelling with images … like my friend's work by John! ✨

• Clay/pottery: when I play with this earthy medium, themes around politics of the body and ‘smashing’ the patriarchy come up (💁‍♀️to get those air bubbles out). I love the meditative and trance-like feeling when I’m on the wheel… the way this medium holds memory and can be both delicate and forgiving—like healing with trauma.

If you wanted to share your thoughts, feel free to email me at linda@deciphercounselling.com.

Save this practice and come back to it for another day. If you know someone who may like this, share this blog post with them!

Thanks so much for being here :-)

Here are 3 ways you can start to decolonize your creative practice.

1. Make some trauma-informed art.
   

   We need to unlearn rules around making art that has been tying us down. Have you been feeling like your work is not enough? Are you censoring or policing your creativity and the process? As Yumi Sakugawa says, we need to ‘transmute shame to freedom’. Giving ourselves the permission to make ‘imperfect’ or what I would call, trauma-informed art, is core to trauma-healing from a world that gatekeeps what art should be.
   
   

2. Allow for creative accidents.
   

   Creative accidents are things that happen when we are working with art materials that lead to exploration in areas that you may have never thought you would explore.
   Being untrained artistically can actually be an advantage when working with images and intentions because having less training can sometimes mean you have less control over the art medium you are working with. Having less control means that there is more of a chance for something “other” to come through on the page.
   
   

3. Respect what you create.

   
   Our art carries so much life. Our art holds meanings and inner wisdom as well as curiosity, and carry emotions that may not be ready to be seen yet or ever. I hope you get to learn to enjoy and seek beauty in the process

Current thoughts as an art therapist.

Something art therapists see too often is when folks we work with are reluctant and avidly rejecting art making.

There are many ways the art therapy and mental health field gatekeep therapeutic art making as a 'modality'. This makes it harder to debunk the myth that 'art making is a luxury' and a skill that only certain folks who gone through clinical training can practice day to day.

As a newly registered art therapist, I am brainstorming ways to decolonize the field of art therapy. I've been so excited to see some art therapists publicizing art as therapy knowledge in the public eye.

For myself, my role is gravitated towards having conversations and collaborating with folks to make art around art-related trauma or experiences of invalidation around art, art therapy or therapy.

In my work, ‘making art’ doesn't have to be drawing or painting. I find many folks are more familiar and comfortable creating metaphors around their experiences.

I hope you get to heal and practice decolonizing within your creative practice too!