Valentines Day isn't an easy Holiday for some people. The recent oil pastel below is from a workshop journal. It's a powerful visual examples of working through healing. The assignment focused on relationships. In this case, a once passionate, vibrant love has turned bad. The feeling are reflected in strong stokes and vivid colors. A whimsical love bloomed, but soon becomes a swirl of conflicting emotions. This student was absolutely sure they were "over" this relationship, but like many of us, we soon find out sometimes LOVE IS COMPLICATED!
Working through the healing process revealed that some very strong emotions were connected to these old memories. We've all heard that emotional ties (pleasant ones and hurtful ones) run deep, and many choose to believe if we bury them- they'll go away!
Art&healing, creates a safe environment for people to probe around inside their own soul. To remember and uncover what makes them smile, as well as identify a wound that needs healing. It's a fascinating process.
LOVE IS COMPLICATED
AN UNTOUCHABLE HEART
Here is another example. This participant was trying to make a heart connection, but felt shut out, or blocked. You can see an image of a shielded heart, or guarded, nothing is penetrating through (purple arrows blocked by pencil scribbles around the red heart in the center) It's also easy to spot the multiple tiny arrows reach out in all directions, trying to connect.
An art and healing workshop takes you through a step by step process. The students themselves evaluate their own work and how they felt through the process. It is not the job of a facilitator to attempt to diagnose, or analyze anyone. Because it is a process, their picture will look completely different as it develops. If we look at this same picture after step #3, all you would see is the big red heart in the middle with dark skinny lines (like a net) all around it. As we progressed through step#5 , a lot of color and energy emergerd from above (top left corner) They expressed this as "God's relentless attempts to love" even if attempts are continually rejected! This was a God moment for them, an unexpected revelation that was unveiled as they worked through each step!
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