Colouring-in, why its now a thing...softies, and anxiety

 

For me as a child, colouring-in was a guilty pleasure, rather like reading books by Enid Blyton (not a broad enough vocab.), watching commercial TV (too tacky) or Walt Disney (do I need to explain? If so, check out the movie Saving Mr Banks, for Emma Thompson's brilliant portrayal of PL Travers, struggling with the Disneyfication of Mary Poppins...).

Sadly, the drawings in children's colouring-in books are less than inspiring - as an older child, I preferred Altair designs, which were also more acceptable to my artist parents, as they were abstract, less prescriptive, and encouraged creative interpretation. But sitting down with some coloured pencils or felt pens and having some time out colouring was just - really - cool.

However, I could never have imagined or predicted the current level of interest in colouring-in books - for adults. Yes, colouring-in is now definitely a (grown-up) thing. A Secret Garden by Johanna Basford is a best-seller, and there are numerous other beautiful colouring-in books currently being produced.

Including this one, Breathing to a New Beat, which I have contributed a drawing to. This is the third project by Curly Pops I have been involved in...and I have to say, after rashly agreeing to produce an image, and then wondering for a couple of weeks why I create more stress in my life, by signing up for these projects...ultimately, though, its so worthwhile, thanks to Camille's fantastic creativity, encouragement and organising skills...and for a good cause. I feel very privileged to be included.

And of course, as an art therapist, this is all very interesting.

And now for some recent softies:

Baby rabbit in Hungry Caterpillar pyjamas - the free pattern is from Shiny Happy World.

 

So is the pattern for this bear, which I made into a bean bag. I am going to try using him with clients, to help them with mindful breathing.

And then there is my anxiety monster, which I shared a drawing of in my last blog post.  This is the 3-D version, fully stuffed and sewn.  I recently read My Age of Anxiety by Scott Stossel, which absolutely puts everyday anxiety into perspective. Such a brave thing to write this book...it struck me how much its about embarassing bodies, really. And how they let us down...

Having just had a relaxing week off work, I am doing pretty well with my self-care. Since writing that previous post, I have made more of an effort to keep up my meditation practice. My sleeping pattern is improving, bit by bit...

My next challenge is to start saying 'no' to some requests for work (or even art projects...). In the last three months, I have had four jobs, and in one week, I did all four (there was a bit of an overlap). This seems a little ridiculous.

 Kit Bag for Anzac Day

I'll share one more picture of a recent TAFE art project, working with new migrants with very little English,  for Harmony Day.

more later
Namaste

Back to basics

A month on from my last post, and I am struck by how perspectives can change so much in a short time. I was feeling very under-employed in January - now I am feeling the opposite, and at times, I've been quite overwhelmed in the past week, as I've struggled to adjust to this 'new normal'.

Self-care was a topic I wrote about last month, and its actually a constant theme in my thoughts, as I work in a stressful and emotionally demanding area, as a therapist with children and families. Increasingly lately, this has been impacting on my sleeping patterns, which are becoming unhelpfully unreliable.

Last night, whilst awake when I didn't want to be, I tried imagining an 'anxiety monster', as this would be something I might ask my clients to do.  This is how it looked in my mind, sort of. Its more 3D than this, and I am planning to make a soft textile version...

 I have tried to keep drawing, and posted some of my daily drawings on Instagram for a week.

I can see self-care creeping through in this drawing! Its been important to me to try to stay healthy and keep up my exercise regime and meditation practice, but the meditation has been slipping of late, which I suspect is impacting on my sleep. Everything is connected, somehow.

This collage was prompted by a dream of walking along the muddy banks of a river, probably the river Dart, which flowed through the town I lived in during most of my childhood, Totnes in Devon, South West England.  It was completed in my peer supervision group, and it is also anticipating some exciting new work projects.

I attended a great training workshop with Liana Lowenstein, a Canadian social worker, and prolific author, who also works with children, in private practice. And this week I am going to another of her workshops, this time in Sydney. The drawing is of my family as Brassicas, which I completed in Liana's workshop.

My younger son has been overseas, and this has been inducing some anxiety, although its also given us an early taste of having the proverbial empty nest. And that has been fine...

A chapter I co-wrote with a colleague has been published in a new book on working cross-culturally in creative therapies. This is really exciting. There is another chapter on the way, in fact, just about to go to the publisher, which has some great research results for art therapy. That may take a while to be published, but its even more exciting, as its the result of collaborative work with two of my colleagues over almost a decade.And I believe its ground-breaking.

There is certainly a lot happening on the work front. And its mostly all good. I just hope I can keep a good perspective on things, not get overwhelmed too often, and get back into daily mindfulness meditation.

I'll keep you posted, excuse the pun.

Namaste.

more later