Art Therapy Sunday

Art Therapy Sunday

Hello there.
Thanks for stopping by again.
I do appreciate it. Especially today.
Sunday’s Blog a step-by-step.
Apologies for being a little later than usual, 
but I have to confess, my day didn’t start out well. 
I am sure you know what I mean when I say that I allowed somebody to sow something in my head, just a little seed. 
But before I could process it intelligently, 
it had sprouted into a mammoth issue, 
and my head became a full blown war zone.
Happy Sunday.
So I have used this blog and this piece of artwork to find my way  back to the happy, serene art room that was before the phone rang.
Let’s get going on the project, 
before my washing machine for a head cranks up again!
Drop a couple of drips of reinker ink on a large 8″ x 10″Gelli Plate, which is sitting on a 9″ x 11″ Mega mount.
I used
Take a sheet of clean acetate and lay it on top of the ink.
You could even use the protective sheets the Gelli Plate comes sandwiched in.

When you squish it, the ink shatters and moves around. Fantastic.

Remove the acetate, 
place the white Gelli Card on the ink on the Gelli plate,
or take the Gelli Plate to the card for better positioning.
Pull a print.

Replace the acetate, squish a bit more, 
remove acetate and place the plate on fresh card.

Just keep making blobby cards.
I found this helped get rid of the first layer of upset. 

So I kept going, spritzing with water, adding more ink, squishing and focussing on the artwork, instead of the rubbish in my head.

I know! You look at this and think, well at least it’s served some purpose then, because there’s no way you are going to bring this back from the place we call Bin-dom!

Not so fast on the reject button matey!
Out with my favourite stamp.
He’ll calm me down and comfort me. 
Just like my lad Mark did, when he surfaced this morning.

Ok. So now we have a basis. Now I really have to focus,
so I do need to let go of the crap in my head.
Am I allowed to say Crap?
Good.

Black Micron Pen. 

Just follow the ink splat lines.

Torn copy paper and Make-up sponges with ink pads 
to add some hills.

Shabby Shutters Distress pad.

Create more hills.

Add a waterline for a lake.
Spectrum Noir Pencils to define the hills.
Lighten the boy.
The light Spectrum Noirs work on black.

Use the pencils to enhance the water,
and give the boy back some black shading.

Busy. Very busy.
But I like it a lot.

Black edging with a Sharpie Pen to frame.

Mount on white card to finish.

And the tornado ripping through my head has moved through. 
So yes. Art therapy works for me. 
I just have to have faith that it will. 
Actually, now my head has become this picture. 
Calm as a millpond.
Which was its purpose. 

Sometimes I think I’m not as well as I’d like to think I am. 
But mostly, I think I think too much, and when I get out of my head and stay with my hands, things invariably get better.
Do I want to talk about it?
Do I want to talk about what?
much love,

51 thoughts on “Art Therapy Sunday

  1. Fab work Barbara, don't tell me you missed the face in the inks that cradle the hills and it looks like her hair is flowing down too …. or is that just me ?? Love this work and hope your day improves soon. Love Doreen xx

  2. Hope everything is okay hate to think of you being upset xx onto art work it's brilliant something I see in the right side of red in middle a face with hair like mohicin hair do looking up at botom bird balloon it's amazing cant you see it. Big hugs to a wonderful lady who I and all of us care about deeply blessing over you for rest of day and following week plus xxx

  3. Just knew there must be some blip in your day. Glad art has helped and the resulting creation is flipping amazing, how do you pull them back each time so wonderfully! Oh the joy of music and creativity for letting go of issues. Now is it just me or do we see a figure in the top right in the red looking as though he is kneeling praying and presenting a gift!. Each day is a gift good or hard. The hard ones make us appreciate the good more, we all have them it's called life and that's worth celebrating! Enjoy the rest of today. XX

  4. Well I'm pleased that you let a negative become a positive!!
    This looks brilliant! And yes I see the face too!! Maybe the boy is Mark and the face is your lovely Grace looking out for you! Love and hugs! Xxx

  5. Oh wow this is amazing! So unusual and fresh.

    I know what you mean about a seed being sown but I'm afraid I can't make it better but I can tell you that I'm just as bad! One word is all it takes and my imagination makes it into a huge mountain. Sorry Barbara and hope you soon feel better. Good ol Mark xxxxx}

  6. Hi Barbara beautiful artwork today with lots of Images in it, I can see the people and also a rose in the middle (part of the hair). I'm glad the artwork and Mark helped to clear the tornado from your head, now put on the happy song and dance around the kitchen to get the day back on track. Take care. Love Diane xxx

  7. Oh dear Barbara – bah humbug to the person on the phone putting those seeds in your head on a Sunday!!!! Bad show – I do hope you have got yourself sorted and left it behind – I know its not easy to do – but you would tell us to do the same.
    Mind you – look at what those seeds help you create!!! so out of bad came some good – hang in there Barbara – Ive got your back xx
    Much love
    Kim
    ps – just love the boy stamp – so far its my favourite of this years stamps xx
    Go treat yourself to a bit of chocolate – send Dave out to buy you a nice Turkish Delight xx

  8. Who has been upsetting my Mate???? I am always here if you need me. Sounds like you have worked through and beyond it, uou are strong and resilient and will rise above it.xxxx I love this card and the techniques you have used – ITS A KEEPER!!! See Messy is good for the Soul. Talking if messy I am off to get my Gelli out. xx

  9. Sorry you had a bad start to your day. I know what you mean, I am the same and sometimes think far too much. Well done you though for turning a negative into such a beautiful piece of artwork.
    Gayle x

  10. Hi Barb,
    Sorry to hear that your day didn't start well, although I wish I could copy you when similar things happen to me, and produce something as brilliant as this. Yes, I can see the girl too! Hope the rest of your day has been ok. Love Alison xx

  11. Love this art work! Maybe the one situation where more is more Barbara?!! It's so fresh and colourful and happy – might just have to have a go myself later this week, as it's my great nephew's 2nd birthday soon, and I need to make his card, and this would be just perfect. Sorry that your day started with a black dog getting into your brain, but if it chased out this fantastic idea, it can't have been all bad. Susan x

  12. Hi Barbara,
    this is a great art work … I love the mixture of the colourful spots where everybody sees something different and the silence of the backgroud landscape scenery.
    We say there is nothing bad without anything good in it… You see the bad phone call turned into such a beautiful picture…
    have a better start into the new week
    Rolf xxx

  13. I have to admit that I did wonder where on earth you were going with this one, Barbara. But I kept faith and went with you and then suddenly I could see all the glorious autumnal colours in the banks of trees round that lake. You say you have a washing machine inside your head. Well, it is a cleverer washing machine than any I have ever come across, being able to create such beauty and peace from apparent chaos. I think you should have this one blown up to poster size, mounted and framed and put on a wall in every area in which you get stressed. Title:- "Out of Chaos comes Peace". Now go and cuddle Romeo as Magic Maggie said. It is a proven fact that stroking a cat, in particular, or a dog, reduces blood pressure and creates relaxation. Ignore the idiots and listen to your heart. You know the direction you want and need to go. Well done Mark. xxx Maggie

  14. Sorry your day started on a downer Barbara, but after producing this wonderful piece of work I think it is definitely on the up. Hope the rest of your day is calmer now. The colours are delicious and it's amazing what the shapes make you see, and I do love the way you have added hightlights and shadows to the boy and birds. Magical! x

  15. Hi Barb,
    Sorry someone upset you but look at the masterpiece you produced. It looks like an Atlas of the World to me and the boy is flying from country to country.
    Give me the address of the person who started the turmoil and I'll go and kick a*s!!
    Chill, and love xx

  16. Absolutely beautiful Barbara crafting is my solitude we can lose ourselves in our craft work and thanks to your blog we learn each day think of how many people you help each day and your bad day will melt away clarity hugs xxx

  17. I'm an over thinker too and spend far too long stressing on how things will turn out instead of just letting them get on with it, usually turns out OK, or if not a solution can be reached. We cannot help the way we are wired. Glad you managed to work it through and the result is beautiful. Chill your bean Barbara. Joan x

  18. Hi Barbara
    I'm so sorry for your troubles today, glad you had Mark and your art to help you, hope both have managed to banish the bad stuff for good and the week to come is a better one for you, you so don't deserve anyone making you feel bad ever, you are such a special lady.

    I love this artwork you've created and I too can see the things others have pointed out, once I know what to look for. I used to really struggle to get abstract artwork, still do mostly, but with the help of all your recent inspiration and step by step demos, you've started to help me see/think outside of the box for the first time, even to the point of me thinking I could give it a go. The club stencil of the torn shapes, I took one look at it, had a wee panic and thought how am I going to use that! Looked at the inspiration sheet and the light bulb went on and I love it and seeing you use gelli plate spares, other stencils in an abstract way and now messy splodges and stuff too you've sown the first seeds (happy, arty seeds) in my head.

    Maybe I just need to take that leap and actually give it a go, maybe I can do it, maybe it will help me with the huge issues in my head too. And if my first attempts do go wrong like you all say it's only a piece of card and some ink (I have a huge fear of failure in everything). And if I get stuck I now have you lovely people who I'm sure will be able to give me some help- I can have trouble filling in the missing blanks, often needing more words, fuller explanations of things before I can understand something.

    Barbara, thank you for sharing and for giving me yet more inspiration. And for bringing about and embracing this extended Clarity family that I've now finally managed to make contact with. I hope it is helping you as much as it is helping me and others who comment on here
    Love Brenda xx

  19. Oh Barb, I can't imagine someone really getting to you,what I earth was their problem. Oh well you dealt with it in your own way and look how you channelled it. Amazing artwork. Love and hugs.Wxx

  20. What a glorious scene you have created Barbara , love the vibrant colours and of course that wonderful stamp.
    Glad you worked through all the garbage , and now it's in the bin!
    Xxxxhugs Ruth

  21. Love this one Barbara. How you make such a fantastic piece of artwork out of a few drops of ink Ana a stamp is AMAZING. So sorry you were upset this morning but good on you for working it through and making it into a positve. Bless you for your inspiration. xx

  22. Hi Barbara. What an amazing picture! I could see a map of the world for a while then when you started to use the pen the water, cliffs etc. just leapt out. How wonderful the boy and birds are, just drifting along looking down at such a calm scene. I am so happy that your art allowed your head to get rid of the crap and that you can now see the same. Wishing you a much better start to tomorrow morning. Take care.

  23. Hi Barbara,
    I think you have been in my head! At least you described my mind a lot if the time. These days when I get like that I retreat to clarityland and watch you on YouTube, read your blog and/or have a crafty half hour to brighten the gloom. In fact, I have been doing that this weekend, working on my entry for the Clarity challenge.

    Crafting has done so much for me already, yet I am still very new to all this. I must thank you, as you have been my way into this creative side. You have given me the confidence to give things a try. These days I find myself viewing things in a new light – skies are more interesting, I look at colours and shapes differently, I even think differently!
    So I hope your day continued to get brighter.
    Best wishes,
    Alison

  24. you have been in my head then. remember you told me i think too much? well as they say it takes one to know one. i can glimpse what was going on in your head from the artwork. my goodness! at least you used bright colours. mine would have been more blacks and greys i'm sure.
    i'm turning to craftwork more and more to escape from my head too. at least i forget about all that is going on whilst crafting.
    what is amazing in this piece is the depth and dimension created! it's awesome. take care and look after yourself, hugs xx

  25. I absolutely love this piece Barbara. Your tale of seeds put me in mind of the following ditty

    The seeds I sow somehow don't grow -I'm sorely disenchanted.
    But oh what luck I have with stuff I never even planted!

    I liked this verse so much I embroidered it, surrounded by Clarity-like flowers, seedheads and toadstools.

  26. I wrote almost the same thing on my blog yesterday. I keep busy with my crafts so I don't think so much. If I did I am sure that I would go mad and just give up.

    Wishing everyone better days ahead.

  27. Hi Barbara,
    I'm glad the artwork has cleared your head and that your feeling more settled now, good for Mark, helping you too.
    At least out if the upset came a beautiful piece of art, something else for me to try 🙂
    Remember tomorrows another day, so start afresh,
    Jackie xx

  28. Hi Barbara so sorry to, read that your day didn't start too well, I do hope it finished on a high. I think you've proved that art therapy works!! This is a great technique which I've added to 'my must try this one' list, which is growing exponentially. I do hope Monday is a better day for you. xx

  29. Hi Barb, such a shame that your Sunday started out badly, and glad that it resolved itself in your mind. Yes art therapy does works when faced with seemingly insurmountable issues. Love this card, almost has an Autumn feel to it with the colours you have used, reflecting the colour change going on around us at the moment. Take care, and I hope today is better. Bx

  30. Hi Barbara. Sorry your day started so badly, but oh my, what a brilliant finish! The art work is fab, and there are all sorts of images that can be developed. Love the way you have used the pen to define the different areas. Anne x

  31. Sorry about the 'issue' you had Barbara, but I'm glad you managed to work out of it. I wish I could afford all those re-inkers, you do such marvellous things with them. I loved all your splodgy efforts, and I can imagine them turning up over the next few weeks – don't waste them!

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