3 Easy tips for drawing to aide mindfulness

Any kind of creativity or exercise are great tools to support mindfulness. In our busy lives, its becoming increasingly important to take a restful moment that promotes wellness and selfcare. Art can help do that and if you've not done much it shouldn't be something to be scared of. These 3 simples steps advise on how to involve art into your life to aide mindfulness.

1. No pressure.

This isn't about creating a finished piece. This is one of my biggest learnings from university was how to use a sketchbook as an exercise in exploration rather than starting each with the mindset of thinking how will it turn out.

​Take yourself back to your childhood art, when you just created, it could be a mess, it could be organised pattern but overall it is just play. Remove the pressure to make "something" or draw something realistic and just MAKE YOUR MARK. This isn't work to show to be judged, but who the hell cares if its seen, its an extension of the creative side of your brain. I dont want to hear "but I can't draw", because everyone can physically draw. We don't have to be Rembrandt to enjoy the process.

Loosen up and enjoy exercises like drawing with your eyes closed, drawing without looking at the paper and continuous line drawing.

2. Easy to access.

The pre-act of mindful art is equally as important as the process itself. So there's two options depending on how you work and how it fits into your daily life. If your sat there thinking I literally have no time to create, think EASY ACCESS. It needs to be something thats just there and you can utilise for 10 seconds or whatever you have spare. Think a whiteboard, a sketchbook in your bag on your train commute, a canvas out on your kitchen side as you do your chores. In the interest of keeping it real heres how i role, art mixed into my daily life of washing up and prepping the boys dinner. Its not glamourous, i dont have a dishwasher and i promise the wine was from the night before😂, but working this way gives me those few moments of art that keep me in check.

If you have more time and a space then make your space work. I will always advocate playing with scale, as adults we often constrain our art to small pieces. So get experimental on large sheets of paper or cardboard boxes, build layers, stand, sit, dance, use all of yourself in your work.

3. Dont be precious

Paint over paint, try again, rework relayer, work over other peoples work. This is about enjoying the process and the more you can relax and realise 'hey its just art, whats the worst that can happen' the more youll relax into it and find yourself developing and find what works for you. The below piece is on rework number 3...i think

So, there you have it. Hopefully that helps in prompting you to just have a go. If you have any questions about suppliers, products or techniques please just ask.