Most Consistent Emotion
This is our first blog post in Simply Created by MA. My name is Kelli Karver and as an art therapist (what is art therapy) and counselor, I have always loved self-exploration through art and journaling, in and out of session. Sometimes while in session, it is difficult to fully process how you are feeling about a topic or situation. Oftentimes, I will give my clients art or journal prompts as homework to further explore themes that popped up in session. I am passionate about Simply Created to give more people the tools we use daily in our therapy sessions. Each week we will post a new theme, art prompt and follow-up journal prompts, but these art prompts can also be explored through journaling only. Both are creative expressions that will yield similar results.
Art Prompt: Create an image of the most consistent or powerful emotion that you felt this week.
Materials: Watercolor crayons, watercolor paper
For this directive, I initially thought “anxiety” and started jumping into creating. Reflecting back on the week, it was clear that I was anxious in many different areas. Although, as I was creating, I felt that only highlighting the anxiety did not do my week justice. I quickly realized that what felt like anxiety was actually guilt, and because of that guilt I was feeling anxious. In my image, I created a wave image to represent the guilt that dripped into the base of the water which represented my consistent anxiety.
Something to note: My description of my image may sound good and thought out. To be completely honest, I had no idea what I was creating, and it was not until the end was I able to express what I created and how it related to the directive. I started with a thought, created then explored what it could mean.
Journal prompts for further exploration of the image:
What is something that is causing your consistent emotion this week? What is something that you can do to help the situation, what is something you need to accept?
What was it like to create a visual to represent this emotion?
If you created a positive emotion, how can you continue to cultivate that emotion? What helped keep that emotion consistent or powerful this week?
Tips:
Do not overthink the art directive. Jump into creating with your first thought and allow the image to form itself.
Explore the artwork when you’re completed and see what you notice in your colors, method, imagery. Sometimes you’ll have new insights once you’re finished creating.
Materials will be suggested, use whatever you have access to or materials you’d prefer.
Work as little or as long as you’d like.
Don’t create thinking of a product, focus solely on the process. This may not be something you’d like to hang on the wall and that is perfectly fine and often preferred 🙂
You may not always be able to reflect on your image and understand what it means. Sometimes just simply engaging in the art process is therapeutic enough.
While these directives are designed for deeper exploration of self, sometimes they may cause one to feel overwhelmed. These prompts should not replace therapy. If any of these prompts bring up unsafe emotions and you feel you are a danger to yourself or others, please call 911 or go to your nearest hospital.
