Drawing Out Insight - Part 2

Well, here's part two of the last posting. I'd love to see how you all did and like I promised I said I would post mine.

What I found to be interesting, was how similar the images were in comparison to others. Here are some other examples to compare yours to.

You may notice that while the image you have drawn is broadly similar to the others, it is uniquely yours. Like a snowflake's pattern is broadly similar but yet specifically and uniquely different than all other snowflakes.

In Betty Edward's Book, she further explains the meaning of the lines. The structural similarities in the drawings is what expresses the single concept or human characteristic i.e. "Anger", "Peacefulness."

Line, form and structure "demonstrates that there is a vocabulary of the visual language of drawing."

If you notice the "Anger" lines; dark, jabbing, short, sharp marks, and notice the how they are placed. While they are all similar, yet very different, very individual but all communicating one emotion, "Anger."
So not to completely bore you all,I do highly recommend Betty Edward's book. Visit your local library or buy it. Try this with some of your friends and compare the images. Who knows you may giving new meaning and insight to old emotions.

Drawing Out Insight - " Drawing on the Artist Within" by Betty Edwards

A few years back I received the book by Betty Edwards, "Drawing on the Artist Within." It sat on a shelf for a while, then I decided it was high time I pick it up and not only actually read it, but do it. So I did. One of the chapters, Chapter 7, "Drawing Out Insight" contained an exercise that I thought the results were pretty cool.

George Orwell suggested in his essay "New Words," that each of us has an outer life and a inner mental life. Our outer life expressed by the use of language and the mental expressed by another by the use of thought or better yet thought about feelings that rarely come to surface because ordinary words can't express its complexity. The purpose of this exercise is to get the inner life to surface by using visual language. Drawings in this case. ( ok I can hear you now..."I can't draw a straight line." Doesn't matter.)In other words, you are going to make your inner thought visible with lines.

So... ready?
Here's what you need:
8x10 sheet of paper
pencil
eraser
15-20 minutes

Step 1 - Read all
the way through first. Fold the paper in 8 sections

2. Number and label each section as shown. 1. Anger  2. Joy  3. Peacefulness  4. Depression  5. Human Energy  6. Femininity  7. 9. Illness  8. is your choice, jealousy, love,fear, anxiety, any human characteristic or emotional state. Don't worry, I can feel your anxiety now, there is no right or wrong, good or bad. It will be right because it will be right for you.

3. You are only allowed to use marks or lines for each characteristic.You may use the tip of your pencil, the side, broad strokes, skinny strokes, light dark, etc.
There is a catch. YOU CAN NOT DRAW ANY PICTURES! No raindrops, no flowers, no hearts,no symbols. Using lines only, straight, curvy, light dark, short, fast, broken...etc.

Edwards suggests reading the word for each section: Anger and think back to a time you were really angry. Take it out on the pencil and paper with LINES only. Imagine that emotion again, from deep down, traveling to your arm, down to your hand and onto the pencil - "marks that look like the felt emotion." Don't try to censor the marks, they are private, unless you wish to share them. She also suggests "Do not try to visualize beforehand what the completed drawing will be like." Remember there is no right or wrong and no one has to see them.

In my next posting I will show you my images and that of some others from the book. If you like and want to share here please do, I will be happy to post them. What I found fascinating was... well.. you'll just hafta wait until the next posting : )


Edwards, Betty. Drawing on the Artist Within. 1st. New York: Simon & Schuster,Inc, 1987.

Welcome to My Blog - Art as My Therapy

Greetings and welcome to the Pages from My Sketchbook. For those who don’t know me, my name is Caryn.  I have a passion for art and an interest in medicine and one day I hope to combine the two and become an art therapist. I am an artist NOT an art therapist YET! 

Art for me has always been an outlet. Some people eat, some people shop, some people make art. That’s me. I like drawing, painting, or just creating something. Growing up it was a way to pass time when I was sick, which if you ask my mother it was a lot, but really not. There was a time when I didn’t do any art or drawing. Then Photoshop came along and somehow I lost some skills. Picking up a pencil again wasn’t like riding a bike. I literally lost perspective and had to relearn a few skills that I had forgotten. So with encouragement from my husband, I picked up my pencil and sketchbook and started copying some drawings and took a watercolor class. Then the summer of 2009, I started designing greeting cards at Greeting Card Universe, www.greetingcarduniverse.com/kabras. Last January 1^st one of my cards was elected by GCU as Design of the Day. That was pretty cool.

After almost 20 years in the medical field and experiencing burn out, I seized the opportunity to explore the art world and make the career change. So back to school it was and back to school it is this coming semester. My plan is to finish my degree in graphic design and work as a graphic designer to pay for the rest of my education, which is gonna be a lot but who knows where the journey will take me.

If there is one thing I have learned thus far, art heals. There is an emotional healing that takes place when we are creating. I truly believe that when we are healthy psychologically, we are healthy physically and when we are healthy physically we are healthy psychologically. We were created to create, to express ourselves be it through drawing, painting, music, cooking, baking, sewing, acting, writing, fashion; just about anything that requires us to use our imagination and be creative.

 I’ll be posting some of my drawings and sketches and encourage each of you to do the same. I have come across some really cool creative exercises and projects along the way that I hope you will fun with too.  Oh and books… got some fun books to share and make.

So grab your pencil and sketch book…ready, set, GO!!!