Daisies and Bruises

Glue for the Soul

20 Jul 2011 5 Comments

by daisiesandbruises in Day-to-Day Life, Therapy Tags: art, childhood, coping

There is something calming in creating something myself. I make buttons and hair clips, I embroider and decoupage. I paint and art journal and customize everything. I took art in high school but always felt stifled with the amount of rules that were enforced. I never connected with art until I let myself create freely.

Collages were my first medium. My sister and I got into cutting up magazines and decoupaging (collaging over another object like a box) one summer and quickly turned it into a daily ritual. I love taking something like a magazine clipping and reworking it into something else entirely, a new piece of art from my point of view.

When I finished high school I planned to take a year off and during that down time my mom, a talented artist, encouraged me to continue making art. I started looking at art online and saw that a lot of young people were pouring their feelings into their work. When I was feeling very depressed, I secretly and tentatively started pouring my darker feelings into my art. As a result I felt a freedom I had never felt before. It was a new way to communicate what words can’t always capture.

I still direct my feelings into collage and other mediums, but day-to-day I make small projects that I share with other people.  My crafts have helped me connect with people because they speak for themselves. I feel instantly rewarded when I see someone smile over one of my pins. Tonight I spent probably four hours making barrettes that I plan to sell at The Met this weekend. Come say hello!

Crafts give me a sense of accomplishment and started rebuilding my self-esteem after years of it being non-existent. The simple repetitive action of doing something I am comfortable with is also calming and grounding. Through art I can communicate my love of beauty in the world and show it to other people. It’s pretty awesome!

I highly recommend learning how to make something yourself, no matter what medium you choose. There are tons of craft books out there which can give you great inspiration, but remember not to be too hard on yourself. Any time I start to critique my work I clam up and can’t produce a thing. Art is definitely a process and it is never-ending. During my crafting tonight I make half of my barrettes upside-down and backwards but I realized my mistake and corrected what I could. The end result was more satisfying than it would have been if I’d done it on my first try.

We all start out in life as little kids doodling and finger painting. At that age we were never told which colours to use or what to paint. Adults just gave us the tools and said GO! Making art is communicating with your inner child, and our emotions equal that inner child. Play with paint and colour with crayons. Aim not to make anything but to MAKE. If you get stuck, hang out with a little kid. They’ll show you how to get back on track.