Everyone is an artist. It doesn’t matter if you can(not) paint / draw / sculpt. Being an artist means being creative in whatever way feels natural to you. Especially in this day & age where the line between ‘work’ and ‘life’ is a blur – one needs an escape to activate the metaphorical ‘right’ brain & keep the creative juices flowing.
In the latter part of this article I will share few easy & inexpensive ways to treat art as a therapeutic activity, something that I hope will help you cope with stress or work-life balance.
But first, a little bit about myself & the motive for this topic:
I am a Charted Accountant by profession, currently working at a top MNC as a Management Consultant. In this academic & professional journey, what kept me going through the vicissitudes of life was to have a creative outlet – meant only for me & not to please anyone else. To achieve our goals, we ought to hustle. But the hustle ought to be sustainable for our mental well-being.
When I started creating art using the techniques (mentioned later) & posting them online, I got an overwhelming response from people who found them ‘satisfying’ to watch, asking more about what materials I use, how could they replicate the same and so on.
Remember, it does not matter whether you’re a ‘good artist’, just give yourself a chance to explore this medium. You’ll need some basic stationery available at home / nearby store / online.
- ‘Adult’ colouring books : (haha… it’s not what you think) are easily available online. The drawings are a little more complex & mature than those for kids & it’s really rewarding to see the result.
2. Fluid Art – These budget-friendly kits are easily available online. Follow instructions on the kit – just pour paint onto the canvas, wiggle it around & let dry, to reveal a masterpiece.
3. Zentangle art – draw a freehand border around the edge & a curved line or squiggle within the border, called a “string” in light pencil. Now switch to a pen and begin drawing a “tangle,” a series of patterns and shapes around your “string” and voila! You got yourself a Zentangle. The process is designed to allow room for human error & have fun doodling.
4. Turn your fears into a (literal) monsters – Think about something that frightens you, whether it’s “spiders” or “going broke” and give this fear a shape. Creating the beast outside of you will strip your fear of some of its power, especially when comparing it to the (now often silly) fears we all had as a child.
5. Paint with your body – Just splash some colour onto your hands or feet and fill the blank paper. After all, a mashup of colours always looks pretty.
6. Create Snowflakes out of paper – takea piece of paper, foldit upon itself 3-5 times, take a scissor and cut out small fragments off the paper, open the folds & voila! A fun crafted piece of paper you can put up on your softboard.
