Category: Process and Sensory Art

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Process Art Christmas Cards

When Christmas to-do lists feel overwhelming injecting some creativity into your week can be just what your heart needs. Process Art  Christmas cards are easy, playful, fun and the perfect antidote to commercial craziness.

With Christmas and New Year just around the corner this time of year can be a mash of workplace busyness, sweet treats, social catch-ups, shopping lists, budgets, New Year’s resolutions, holiday dreaming and much more. When Christmas to-do lists feel overwhelming injecting some creativity into your week can be just what your heart needs. Utilising process based methods of creating can alleviate performance pressure and provide a moment to let go, play and relax. For this activity I have combined some process based painting techniques with the Christmas giving spirit to make Christmas Cards.  This activity is suitable for any age.

When making Christmas cards, I find a good variety of textured and coloured papers will set you up well. My three favourite ways to make patterned paper are paint blowing, string pulling and paint scratching and brushing. Try all of them, one of them or mix and match. The instructions for each are below followed by suggestions on how to turn the patterned paper into cards. Other process paint options include paint flicking, smudging, dribbling and marbling. There are no limits so get experimental.

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Organising Art and Craft Spaces in 3 steps

Putting off organising your art and craft space? Grab yourself some chocolate, tea, wine, coffee or all of the choices and let’s get started. I promise you it’s not all bad, you will find some lost treasures, some endorphins from the sense of control and a fresh new space

Hands up if your play room, craft room or art cupboard, is well, let’s say tenderly chaotic (read whirlwind  masquerading as generously creative). No shame here. My art boxes and shelves can get gloriously untidy from time to time. Organising art and craft spaces can be daunting but a space left messy can seriously impact  productivity and how you use your materials. Have you been putting it off? I suggest you grab yourself some chocolate, tea, wine, coffee or all of the above, take a deep breath and we can get started together. I promise you it’s not all bad, you will find some lost treasures, some endorphins from the sense of control and a fresh new space to store you or your children’s creative tools. Continue reading Organising Art and Craft Spaces in 3 steps

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Mandala: Natural Art Therapy

The Mandala creates a clear visual boundary which can be grounding and soothing for a restless mind.

So I took a break and have come back a little more process orientated, a little more humbled by materials and a little more motivated to match my environmental consciousness with my art business. I have spent this week posting about Mandala’s on my instagram and thought they were worth a little more limelight. Before I get started on the many ways to create Mandala’s minus the plastic fantastic art materials, I thought I would give a brief description of where Mandala’s come from. The traditional mandala originates from Tibetan Buddhism and is a sand ritual that symbolises the interconnections of the universe; it also acts as a reminder of impermanence as the mandala’s are swept up at the end of the ceremony and ritual. Within each intricate design are different lessons, symbols and meanings. The complexity of the design can be outstanding.  There is a strong connection between Mandala’s and healing. Read more on the process of Tibetan Buddhist Mandala in this BBC article. You can also see Tibetan monks on youtube creating Mandala’s. They are pretty special.

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Ultimate Play Dough

Play dough is a multi-stage process which means it is a great holiday activity for children who are learning how to follow methods and sequences. Involve your child in the whole process

If your a regular reader of this blog you will find that I love nothing more than to discuss the serious and at times messy topics of art therapy and mental health.
But I have decided to start a regular addition to my posts in the form of a creative activity. I’ll annotate activities, recipes and ideas with emotion related titbits and variations. I am hoping these activities offer something practical for parents, caregivers and anyone who spends a lot of time with children. Creative activities for children help them develop fine motor skills, sequencing and problem solving abilities and encourage development in imagination, sensory processing and confidence. The playful, fun and creative aspects of childhood are often the most essential to development. So without further rambling, my first activity to share is a classic- Play dough!

Play dough

While I had grand plans to test a whole range of play-dough recipes and then tweak them until I had the ultimate recipe, I was in fact saved by The Imagination Tree. Anna’s  award winning blog is all round amazing and I definitely recommend it as a resource. I love this recipe in particular because it is no-cook, soft and lasts a long time (like months and months). It is the only one I use. I usually keep play dough in ziplock bags to keep it fresh, but you could use an airtight container. I have used the recipe without glycerine and it is still is the best recipe!

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