Fun with Doodles
Today's art group prompt was Intention Word Doodles. I got the idea from from a really cool, super informative art therapy blog called Creativity In Therapy (http://creativityintherapy.com/2017/01/intention-word-doodles/). The main idea is that you pick an intention word - like "explore," "relax," or "take action"- that you want to focus on, write the word or phrase in big, bold letters, and then decorate it with a pattern around it. The pattern is the most important part because creating patterns is one of the most soothing aspects of making art.
If any of you have used an adult coloring book within the past two years, then you've probably heard the term "zentangle." Zentangles are images created out of many calming patterns that you can then color in. With coloring books, the tangles are already created for you, but you can also create your own patterns with pens, markers, or colored pencils. Most art therapists don't actually consider coloring books as "art therapy," despite the fact that almost every single adult coloring book claims to be art therapy on the cover, because the person coloring is not actually creating something, and the whole point of art therapy is to use the process of creating art to help with a conflict. However, if you create your own patterns, it can be very relaxing.
In my example that I made earlier in the week (pictured above), I chose to write the phrase "accept change" because I have a lot of big changes coming up in my life and I need to learn to welcome them. Then, I zentangled around it, including a variety of patterns. When they did their projects today, only a few of them followed the directions to write an intention word/phrase, and barely any of them made a pattern around their writing.
I think one of the main struggles I have with running this group is that I am faced with the conflict of being the group leader, but also being a classmate and friend of the participants. It's hard and frustrating when they don't follow the directions, but it's also hard for me to tell them that they aren't doing what they are supposed to. It's also disheartening to see a lot of this kids putting in little to no effort, but I know that art therapy isn't for everyone.
At the end of the group, I had them write a quick reflection again, considering what they wrote and why, how they decorated it, and how it made them feel at the end. The participants that actually wrote intention words said that their artwork was "relaxing" and that they were "happy with how it turned out." One participant whose intention word was "improve" wrote, "I find myself slacking off towards the end of the year and lose motivation to improve myself. I feel like I can now accomplish my goal and to accept myself more." Another participant said, "I wrote 'Be Happy' because there is a lot of stress in school right now and worry. I decorated it with flowers and random patterns. This made me feel calm and relaxed."
