Bridge Drawing

 Instructions from the book: 

1 . Use a pencil to sketch your bridge on the paper. To the left of the bridge, include imagery of what you’re leaving. On the right, identify where you are headed. Under the bridge, draw obstacles you have
encountered along the way.
2 . Using the paint, color in your artwork.
3 . Add yourself to the image. Where are you on this bridge and in this journey? You can indicate your location by adding a dot, a stick figure, or any other symbol you choose to represent yourself.

 

 Questions for Discussion:
· What has prevented you from overcoming the challenges you identified so far?
· How significant are these challenges?
· What are five steps that you can take to overcome these challenges?

 I drew water under the bridge as a symbol of my emotional life. Come to think of it, I was the only one  standing in my way during all this time. Overcoming the problems connected to my emotions might require therapy, establishing a good support system, fostering positive emotions, being honest about what I want and having the courage to go get it and doing more creative work.

Past, Present and Future Images

 Instructions from the book: 

 
1 . On the paper, draw 2 overlapping circles so that you create 3 sections.
2 . Starting from the left, label these 3 sections as past, present, and future.
3 . Glue photos from your past in the past section. (If you don’t want t glue your original images, you could use copies instead.)
4 . Glue recent photos in the present section.
5 . Cut images from the magazines that represent the future you wish to manifest.
6 . Glue your future images in the future section.

 

 

 

 

 

 Questions for Discussion:
· Were you able to find meaningful connections between various periods in your life?
· At any time in creating this art, did powerful emotions overcome you? What were those emotions?

 

I had to adapt and did this exercise with a twist as you can see. I used the metaphor of the rose and documented my life accordingly. I think the future holds decay even if I don't wish it to manifest. Such is the life of humans and flowers. I tried to think of myself as different from my childhood but with a stable character as I grew older. The main emotion I felt doing this exercise was sadness as my sense of reality indicated I, too, was born to perish.

 

 

Garden of Self

 Instructions from the book: 

1 . Take five minutes to imagine a garden of self as a metaphor. The healthy plants represent your positive strengths and attributes, the seeds represent your goals, and the weeds represent the issues or problems that prevent you from reaching your goals.
2 . Using markers and oil pastels, draw your positive strengths as healthy plants.
3 . Draw the goals that you want to achieve as seeds (or sprouting plants).
4 . Draw weeds to represent what could prevent you from achieving your goals.
5 . Add other details needed to tend to your garden. 

 

 Questions for Discussion:
· How would you describe your garden’s plants, seeds, and weeds?
· What are some ways that you can maintain your garden?
· What are the next steps to get rid of the weeds and nurture the seeds in your life?

My garden has plants and weeds, not seeds. It seems I don't live my life according to goals, I just live. Ways in which I could maintain my garden is to take care of my plants and get rid of the weeds. This would translate in focusing on my strengths and eliminating frustration from my life. I could get rid of frustration by knowing what brings me pleasure and joy and doing just that. 

Emotional Landscape

 Instructions from the book: 

 1 . Sit for five minutes and evaluate your current state of mind. Consider what feelings and emotions are with you at this moment. Think of a landscape that would visually represent your current mood. Feel free to find images in books or on the Internet to inspire you.
2 . On the paper, use a pencil to sketch the landscape you’ve visualized.
3 . With a paintbrush, use the watercolors to add blocks of color to your landscape. You can choose to dip your paintbrush in the water to change colors, or to make a particular color lighter or darker.
4 . Give your artwork a title.

 

 When you're tired of everyone's (bull)shit.

 

 Questions for Discussion:
· Does your painting speak to the emotions you’re feeling at this moment?
· How long have you been feeling this way?
· If you could shrink in size and jump into your painting, where would you land in the image?
· Is there a message in your painting?

I am feeling I should get away somewhere in nature far from the crowd. Everything about this landscape screams solitude. You would find me in the house cooking and then looking through the window to admire the landscape.

Visual Metaphor of Your Life

Instructions from the book:

1 . Take 15 minutes to reflect on your life. What metaphor represents your current situation?
2 . Sketch a visual representation of your metaphor on the paper with the colored pencils.
3 . Use the watercolors to add more color to your art.

Questions for Discussion:
· What emotions surfaced while painting?
· What feelings are associated with your current experiences in life?
· It’s important to be honest about your feelings in order to feel them and then to release them. Is there another image of how you would like to experience life? Write your thoughts in your journal.

I felt frustrated. I feel like Sisyphus because all of the work I do seems to go unnoticed. Seems like I am working for nothing. There is another image of how I would like to experience life and  I am not going to share it with the world.

Feeling Wheel

 Instructions from the book: 

1 . Using a pencil, draw a large circle on your paper. If you need help drawing a circle, trace a round object. A kitchen bowl is easy to use for this purpose.
2 . Divide the circle into eight triangles (like a pie).
3 . On the edge of each triangle, write a feeling. When you’re done, you should have eight triangles with eight feelings written at the top of each triangle.
4 . Choose a color that you closely associate with the feeling you have written, and color in the triangle with a combination of colored pencils and oil pastels. Be sure not to color over the feeling you’ve listed. Do this for each of the eight triangles.

 

 Questions for Discussion:
· Which feelings did you write down first?
· Which feelings are you currently experiencing?
· Did you color any two emotions the same color? If you did, what does this mean to you?
· Are there more positive emotions or negative ones on your Feeling Wheel?

I first drew sadness because I am currently experiencing it. I tried to have one color for one feeling. Blue and red make purple and red and yellow make orange. I have more negative emotions on my feeling wheel. 

Animal Guides

Instructions from the book: 

1 . Take some time to choose three animals. The first animal should represent you physically (how you move or look), the second animal should represent you emotionally (how you feel), and the last animal should represent you cognitively (how you think).
2 . Use the pencil to draw the three animals on a of sheet paper. Don’t get wrapped up in trying to draw the animals perfectly. Be creative and draw the animals as you see or feel fit. If you need help, try using an image of the animal for inspiration.
3 . Add the environments in which the animals live (mountains, valley, jungle, house, zoo, etc.). Multiple habitats can be captured on the same sheet of paper.
4 . Now that your pencil sketch is complete, trace over the pencil lines with the black pen.

 5 . Use the colored pencils to color in the image.

Questions for Discussion:
· Discuss each animal’s strengths. How do their strengths relate to you?
· How can you use these strengths to help cope with a life situation?
· How can the animals you’ve chosen live together?

I did the minimum amount of work. I only drew the environment for one animal and did not color them because I felt lazy. The first animal is a walrus. Its strength is physical. Another one would be the fact that it's not a solitary animal. The second one is a spider trapped in a jar. The spider is a skillful creator. The third animal is an owl, a bird of prey who can see in the dark. It is a symbol of wisdom. I can be like these three animals by choosing not to isolate, creating and learning more. These animals could live together in a zoo.