Arts Therapy : Arts Therapy For Self-Exploration (Part 2)

Pattern drawing is cathartic, relaxing, and surprisingly stunning in appearance. We'll show you a simple way of creating a pattern using just circles with amazing results.

Here we talk about how art makes it possible for people to express themselves non-verbally, whilst increasing self-awareness, self-esteem, reducing anxiety and helping with trauma related issues.

With art teaching us how to reach out to others, helping us appreciate beauty and stimulating curiosity, it's no wonder that art is instrumental in helping us in so many ways.

Get right to the source of art therapy, with this activity focused on your heart.

The importance of value in drawings and paintings is undeniable, as it’s through these darks and lights, that we make sense of the world. 

In this lecture we show you how to create your very own shading guide!

As well as being a relaxing activity, you'll be able to add even more depth to your masterpieces!

You'll learn many techniques in this lecture, including, hatching, cross hatching and stippling. 

These techniques can be used exactly as described, or you can adapt them to suit whichever way works best for you.

It is worth noting that there is no right way or wrong way, when it comes to shading.

This lecture is all about perspective, including linear and point perspective.

In this lecture, you'll learn how to draw a self portrait.

Follow these ten easy steps to drawing a top hat. This exercise will help you build on your shading abilities, as the values are built up in stages.

Discover the three most important principles of 3D sketching, that will help you produce the best natural looking 3D drawings.

Follow these six steps to produce a beautifully shaded 3D sphere, it will look amazing!

In this lecture, you'll learn how to draw and shade a 3 dimensional cube.

This lecture contains step by step instructions for "our younger future artists", in how to draw a dog and a cat. 

This lecture contains step by step instructions for "our younger future artists", in how to draw:

a spider and a spiders web

a bird

a fish

a mouse and some cheese

two types of flowers

These exercises will help you develop your drawing skills, and are concerned with perception along with how we visualise and recognise objects.

Adopt these tried and tested methods in order to combat any mental blocks that we all get from time to time.

In this lecture we'll be looking at some tips to help you improve your drawing.  The wonderful art within this lecture is the work of Barbara Wilkins.  Thank you Barbara!

Acrylic paints are so versatile and brilliant to use. With these five tips you'll be an expert in no time and getting the most from your paints, without waste!

Discover how to recreate any picture you have, by simply using dots. You'll firstly create a grid (for placement and scale) and then dot by dot, recreate any picture you wish.

In this lecture, you'll get the opportunity to practice some stippling!

Zentangles are abstract drawings, realised from repetitive structured patterns.

Creating these wonderful abstract drawings is an enjoyable experience that anybody can do, however, younger ones might need some adult guidance.

Like mandalas, creating Zentangles is a form of active meditation. It affords you many benefits, including helping you to relax, and reducing stress levels.

Be sure to access the available resources in the downloads section of this lecture.

Forget trying to create a masterpiece, and allow it to create itself, with personal clarity and authenticity. 

Here are seven top tips to help you discover your inner-self through the images you create. This process begins from within you.

Here are some very useful do's and dont's that will help you create paintings that appear spontaneous and loose.

Discover how to change your mind state instantly, whether that's raising your energy levels or bringing them down to a calm relaxed state.

What is the correct way to hold your brush?

This activity involves using your favourite colouring medium, and affords you stress relief, whilst promoting your creativity.

Here is a great lecture on the benefits of colouring in.  Check out the download section too as there are some great pages for colouring in.

Paisley is everywhere! The paisley design is so beautiful, why not follow these steps to create your very own paisley designs. Once you know how to get the basic shape, you're able to make them unique by adding your very own shapes, colour, line etc.

This video is taken my first art therapy course – Art Therapy Diploma: Art Therapy Course Part 1

Colour perception is subjective, and how we’re influenced by colour differs from person to person. Gain an understanding of how different colours evoke different emotions within us. You’ll also learn what colours are generally associated with which emotions. There’s also a couple of resources in the downloads section, for you to create your own psychology of colours, and what they mean to you. This lecture is more suitable for adults.

Here we take you through the whole process of creating your own style of hand lettering.

In this lecture you will learn how to create a collage.

In this lecture, I'll show you how to draw cartoon animals!

In this lecture we'll cover how to silence your inner art critic.

This super activity involves creating a manilla folder, in which you'll store positive loving words in order to challenge any negative thoughts you may have about yourself. You'll develop your self-awareness, increase self-esteem and practice mindfulness. As a bonus, I've added What Is Mindfulness?, a lecture from my mindfulness course that complements this lecture perfectly.

This video is taken my first art therapy course – Art Therapy Diploma: Art Therapy Course Part 1

So What’s Mind Mapping?

In this context, a mind map is a drawing we create to represent various ideas, words, tasks etc., that encompass a main idea or word.

Creating a mind map helps us to create, structure, define, visualise, and classify different ideas.

We can then look at these various ideas, of which we can now clearly see, and use them as an aid to help us in a variety of ways. Mind maps are more commonly used to help with studying, solving problems and organisation. It can also be beneficial if you’ve got tough decisions to make and need to see at a glance the pros and cons.

How Does Mind Mapping Works in Practice

Mind maps simplify different elements so that you can clearly see the connections between different parts of information.

The flow of thoughts, emerging from the key idea, or word, follow a simple graphical representation. These are classified into nodes and branches, enabling easy understanding, and ensuring that we retain the information in our memory for longer. 

Please see the attached resources for examples of mind maps as well as some templates for you to use!

Mind maps are suitable for all ages.

Mindfulness Training: This lecture covers what mindfulness is, and how mindfulness training can help improve your life.

You'll learn how to make a start, in becoming a poet!

Begin your journey of emotional insight and therapeutic repair, by using visual metaphors. Metaphors in art therapy are a means of visually describing and explaining something non-verbally.