All Categories - Art&Soul: Healing through Creativity

Workshops!!

11/1/2016

Art&Soul Workshops will be starting up again soon.

This summer we held a 4 week series. Early this fall there was a corporate workshop, but it has been a few months since the general "Expressing Feelings with Color" workshop has been held.

Details will be announced soon, so watch here, or on the Facebook page. (But keep December 11 open if you want to attend the "Expressing Feelings" Workshop.) Respond to this blog post with a comment if you have an interest or would like to be added to an email list.

'Impasto' Is Not a Bad Word

4/18/2016

A day of focused work and some playfulness produced strong paintings. There was quite a variety of styles from soft washes to heavy impasto with some paintings incorporating both. As always, I enjoyed this group of painters. I often come away from a workshop feeling that I have learned from the participants. This was not an exception. But this workshop also gave me a new quote to hang on to.

Impasto is not a bad word.

One of the participants asked part way through, "Did she just use a curse word? What's that impasto?" (Yes, she's really a very funny person.)

So to clear up a few things. No, impasto is not a bad word. It is a painting technique where the paint is applied thickly. Often a palette knife is used to apply the paint, and the colors may be mixed directly on the canvas. The paint is opaque and brush or palette knife marks become part of the work. Another technique is to use a wash. This is where water, or a painting medium of some sort is added to the paint. The pigment goes on thinly and can be translucent. If this is done over previous paint marks the underpainting will show through. (For impasto paintings look at Van Gogh's work, for examples of washes look at JMW Turner's work.)

And to add one more word, also not a curse word, how about tonking? This is what a painter does when he/she realizes more paint has been applied than desired. Using a cloth or paper towel, excess paint is carefully blotted off. I watched one of our participants tonk in this workshop.

Applying paint heavily, using ultra thin washes, dabbing, splattering or even fingerpainting: any of these techniques are your choice to express yourself in color.

Here are a few photos from the workshop.

Photo credit:
Sharlene Aquino

Taking on a Challenge

3/25/2016

“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” Edward Hopper

I have taken on the art4healing® challenge of producing 100 abstract paintings in 100 days. Here are a few of the things I am learning/re-learning during this challenge. And a question or two.

Like any training is there value simply in participating in the challenge?

What will I gain from this? What do I want to gain from it?

I am on Day 42 of a 100 day challenge and I am behind, but I have done 42 expressive paintings.

My colors surprise me.

In my haste to express my colors of the day I have made a huge mess.

I am not happy with all the 'finished' pieces. I need to remind myself often that it is the process of creating that is the focus, not the finished products.

The act of creating in and of itself has value.

I know that art and creativity are important vehicles for expression.

Creativity is good. It has been shown to lessen anxiety, improve immune function, and clear the mind.

I will continue working on this, even with missed days.

It's hard to put paintings out there on social media, especially the quick unfinished ones.

I will see where this goes.

Come join our Expressing Feelings with Colors Workshop. Give yourself the chance to explore process oriented painting, color and expression.

You can see the 100 Days images, along with other photos I post, on my instagram here.
And if you are interested in reading a little more about my response to this challenge you can go to
this link for a little more information.

Make More Art

3/14/2016

Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.
~Stella Adler

A study by the National Center for Biological Technology concluded that making art "contributes to health and well-being".

They found that for women living with chronic illness art -

"-filled occupational voids,
-distracted thoughts away from illness,
-promoted the experience of flow and spontaneity,
- enabled the expression of grief,
-maintained a positive identity, and
-extended social networks."
from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12959359

Let's Make More Art!!!!

What's Going On?
A workshop designed to appeal to men will be this Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. at the Bracken Court Location in Bowie, MD.
$35 per person
If you connect someone I am not already friends with on Social Media (Facebook, Instagram) I will give you $10 off the workshop fee.

Workshops and a discount

2/28/2016

Workshops This Week!

In order to get the word out as the Art&Soul Workshops begin a new season, I am offering a challenge. If you connect someone on social media that I AM NOT FRIENDS WITH OR IS NOT ALREADY FOLLOWING ART&SOUL OR MY INSTAGRAM I will take $5 off your workshop fee. If the friend you connected takes the workshop they will also get $5 off. This will apply to the workshops listed at the bottom of this blog post.

Go to the Art&Soul facebook page and tag your friend. That friend will have to leave a comment for it to count!

Here is the information for the next few workshops.
Contact me if you are interested at annieww122@gmail.com.

Workshop Dates/Times:
Expressing Feelings with Color
Tuesday, March 1                   2-4:30         Jireh Place
12218 Torah Lane, Bowie, MD 20715

Living with Chronic Illness
Thursday, March 3                  6:30-9:00    Jireh Place, Torah Lane, Bowie

Workshop TBD
Tuesday, March 15                7- 9:30        11903 Bracken Ct, Bowie, MD 20720

Cost: $35 - includes all art materials. (This is an introductory price.)
Partial support for the workshops has been provided by the City of Bowie Arts Committee. Some spaces in the workshop are designated for City of Bowie residents.

Workshops Are Starting Again!!

2/16/2016

“The mood changes when our beautiful nature photos are placed on the walls, providing color, comfort, and hope to patients, caregivers, and loved ones.” ~ Elaine Poggi, founder of The Foundation for Photo/Art in Hospitals

Thanks to a grant from the City of Bowie Art Committee new workshops will be starting in the next few weeks. The Committee members know how important art is to the health of a community and look for ways to help bring art in many forms to the city. They would appreciate it if you will go to their Facebook page and 'like' them.
Click here for their page.

To keep up with the new workshops you can look for information on the Art&Soul: Healing through Creativity Facebook page or follow this blog for the latest information on the
Expressing Feelings with Color and
Living with Chronic Illness
workshops to come soon.

“If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him… We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.” ~ John F. Kennedy

A Year of Color: the Work of Asha Colquitt McCollum

3/12/2015

This weekend I had the privilege of viewing the artwork of an up and coming artist. Her work is displayed at the Art Matters gallery of Art Works Now. Asha has spent the last year exploring painting and collage. Honestly, I would be interested in most artists' work after they spent a year exploring art and color, but the experience that Asha brings to her art makes this show a treasure.

Asha lives with a rare seizure disorder. Through a life-long love of art she has found a means of processing some of the effects of the disorder. In her words, “Art makes me not think about the pain that I go through.” The paintings displayed in "A Year of Color" at Art Matters, are how Asha has helped her own process of healing, how she has stretched herself and how she has grown, as an artist and as an individual.

Working on her own and with Art Works Now, Asha has developed her own process of healing art. She has taken herself on a journey where the work is almost eerily similar to the work produced at the Art&Soul workshops and by others using the art4healing® method. This was both thought provoking and delightful to me as I viewed the show.

In the article, "Art Enhances Brain Function", Renée Phillips states that "There is an increasing amount of scientific evidence that proves art has an impact on brain wave patterns and emotions, the nervous system, and can actually raise serotonin levels. Art can change a person’s outlook and the way they experience the world."

Art can play a major role in our lives and our healing. It has for Asha, and it can for you.

Asha's show is at Art Works Now until March 15.

Asha with her mom

Art Works Now

Asha and Grace, a visitor to the gallery.

Like a Little Vacation

3/1/2015

"I feel like I'm on a mini vacation."
~ words overheard at the most recent Expressing Colors Workshop

Sometimes painting and dealing with emotions is work, and sometimes it's just plain fun! While we dealt with a couple of hard questions, this workshop tended to the fun side. We worked hard and while working we all enjoyed the color and the chance for expression. The artwork was predominantly playful, lyrical and even narrative. Looking over the finished pieces reminded me of Wassily Kandinsky, Jackson Pollock, Paul Klee, even the frenetic energy of De Kooning's action paintings. Then there were the bold shapes of Franz Kline but with so much color added! What a wonderful use of a cold February day.

Take a few minutes to look at the photos of the paintings. I hope you find a little of the enjoyment I had watching these paintings come to life. It was a very good experience to watch the freedom that was expressed in many of these paintings.

Expressing Feelings Workshop

2/25/2015

Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard.”

~Anne Sexton

Enjoy these photos of yesterday's workshop. The work produced was exciting, colorful, emotional, and sometimes even sad. Some of the attenders were uncomfortable at first, but the work produced was a testament to Van Gogh's words, "If you hear a voice within you saying, "'You cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."

"I came in angry and stressed but am leaving relaxed after having fun."

"I didn't want it to end"

"It was fun!"
Comments from workshop attenders

Steps to Creativity

2/21/2015

"I’d rather have eloquent failure than boring success."

Raphael DiLuzio

The Washington, DC metropolitan area has had a cold and snowy February. Not nearly as bad as New England, but enough that our normal routines have been interrupted – at least mine have. I love my run/walk/runs, even as painfully slow as they might be, but I am not willing to go out for them in sub-freezing temps. I have gotten together with friends much less than usual, and I don’t enjoy shopping enough, on a good day, to drag myself out unnecessarily in unpleasant weather.

This has given me the chance to spend a little more time researching art, creativity, and color. This is how I came across another wonderful TED Talk: "7 Steps of Creative Thinking" by Raphael DiLuzio. He is an artist and an entrepreneur, but he achieved these by moving beyond great challenges in his life.

His seven steps are interesting and worth paying attention to. I have listed them at the end of this. What I found pertinent to Art&Soul is his insistence on writing things down, or keeping a journal.

Here are a few of his words about thinking creatively and keeping a journal.

“ Journal when you are in the state of research, in the state of gestation, in eureka moments….keep track of the feelings you have in these different stages… capture the ideas…our crazy ideas are important…
Keep them… Make them...Share them. ..Value your ideas… Be fearless.”

Here is a quick look at his seven steps. You may participate in these steps in any order.
1.       Idea stage. Frame a question. Value ideas.
2. Research. Engage in research
3.       Basta moment. (Basta means enough.) Time to stop researching.
4.       Gestation. Hold the question. Let it stew. Our world of imagination is important, let it work.
5.       Eureka moments. Flashes of insight. These are especially important to be written down. The idea comes back, but with an answer .
6.       Process of making. You must get beyond the idea of fear of failure or the question "What will people think?" Engage with people. Share your ideas.
7.       Testing and criticism. Testing , sharing, what do people think? Did it work,not work? Bring your ideas into the world. Encourage creative participation. Put aside fear.

Have you found that writing things down helps ? If so, tell us about it in the comments. Or tell us what creative challenges you have found for yourself this winter while you are enjoying our beautiful snow.