Capes

I don't plan a drawing, let alone come up with a title at the time of drawing. But I do try to come up with a title when I'm blogging about the drawing. So, when I was staring at this piece just now, I was thinking wings? Fans? Feathers? Then I thought of Capes.

I couldn't sleep and drew this 1 am in the morning. 

Though there are plenty of bright colors, the overall tone is darker, and it makes sense to me. I was overwrought with worry, but just as this drawing had comforted me, I hope the capes in the drawing provides comfort for the imaginary wearers.

Have a fun day!

Pieces

Since my mother's accident, I feel as if I'm frantically trying to keep the pieces of our lives together or in balance, and on one sleepless night, I decided to draw. 

My children have told me they could see several images in this drawing, such as a cat's face, a dog's tail, a bird, a shark tooth, a dog's face, etc. I think it's amusing that they can see so many things in a drawing when I hadn't intended any of them to be there.

All my drawings were done when I needed to work some issue or issues out in my head. Maybe you should create one of your own and try to find as many things in it as possible.

Have a great day.

Distraction

I don't have plans when I draw. I draw what comes to mind at the time, using the colors that seem to pull me. But the funny thing is,when I look back at the things in the painting, shapes and colors, they make sense.

Usually, spirals and curly-cues seem to represent hopes, dreams, and aspirations. However, when I was drawing this, my mind was crammed full of worries, conflicting decisions, etc., and I felt as if my head was going to burst.

Again, looking back, I'm surprised by the bright colors I chose, but I've always been an optimist.

Have a great day!

Anew

I started drawing in mid-July, but I've been trying to upload them in chronological order to show the progression of my journey. However, there are drawings that just begs to be shown earlier. So, here it goes.

I have done similar drawings in colored pencils, but I wanted to try it with watercolor pencils this time. Though I wish I could have done things more cleanly, I'm quite happy with how this turned out.

These days I don't need to work out the issues as much as I had done earlier, but I still enjoy drawing very much. It's strange how therapeutic it is for me.

Have a great day!

Unfurling

To be honest, I wasn't thinking about titles when I drew and colored in these pictures. I drew what made me feel better at the time and picked the colors that seemed "right" for no apparent reason but that it was "right."

I saw a book on Buddhist Mandala's at a Barnes and Noble store a while back, and I was very intrigued by the intricate designs. This design isn't exactly what I remembered seeing in the book, but drawing the curvy, unfurling of curly-cues made me feel better. There was a knot of worry in my heart, and it felt as if it loosened a bit in the process of drawing the design.

Enjoy and have a great day.

Flow

I drew the center of this piece first, the area that looks like an eye. With all the worries and concerns about my mother's health, healing, and care, I prayed. And I initially drew that thinking I would make that into an all-seeing eye of God kind of thing.  But when I drew in the eye, it looked more creepy than anything else. So, I thought I'd make it into something more comforting than creepy.

Again, I couldn't fall asleep, and I drew the wavy lines that came to mind. The flowing lines reminded me of a flow of water, the flow of life, etc., that all things, good or bad, come and go. And the colors I chose were the colors that drew me in at the time, with worries and fear crowding my mind. When I finished and looked back, I was happy to note that it turned out brighter than I expected.

Another interesting about myself, my favorite colors are green and blue. But the first two colors I use on each of my drawings are sunflower yellow/golden yellow and orange.

I can't say enough how much better I feel each time I finish one of these drawings. Sometimes it takes me an hour or two. Sometimes it takes me more than 10 hours, almost 20 hours. But my goal is not to finish, but to find some kind of healing through the drawing process.

Why don't you give it a try? Anything will do.

Quandary

I didn't know it then, but I started my therapeutic drawings on the evening of my mother's accident. She broke her ankle, and it was a devastating injury for her (she had suffered a stroke a long time ago, so this compounded care issues). I didn't know where to begin. Who will take care of her? Where will she go? Will she walk and be independent, again? So many issues....

There's a drawing titled Despair that comes between Before and Quandary, but for now, I don't want to look at that piece. Also, I didn't re-do it on a bigger canvas, so it only exists on small, journal-sized paper. 

Coming back to Quandary, this is a drawing that helped me figure out what we must do with the issue of my mother's care.

I don't even remember why I made these things in the heart shapes. I remember trying very hard to fit as many squares inside each heart shape without making it overly crowded. It took me almost two hours to draw the squares and another two or so to color them. 

I didn't care that the squares weren't perfect. 

I didn't care that my coloring wasn't smooth. 

All I cared was that the simple task of drawing squares and coloring them in kept me sane and even-keel.

I don't know if this will be a solution for you, but try it, especially if you have a big problem you need to mull over.

When I looked back at my drawings and journals, I realized that I drew squares or rectangles (or anything with corners) when I was wrestling with BIG problems that seemed to have no solutions. Or at least no good solutions. It was a surprise for me to discover this about myself.

Enjoy!

Before

The title of this drawing is Before because it was based on the doodling I did in my journal the day before the major event.

It was a quiet evening, and I was on my own enjoying the peace. I was happy when I drew this. I was thinking about going back to work, my book possibilities, my science project business ideas, etc., and I felt there were possibilities everywhere. That these curly-cues could have represented the possibilities, I'm not sure. But I imagined them straightening out and reaching far beyond the limits of the canvas (or maybe the perceived boundaries of my life right now).