Special Request

As I prepared a special request this week I began to think about how art therapy functions. In particular what it needs to function. Does it need to occur in a clinical setting to be valid? Does it need to be performed by the person looking for the outcome or can you practice art therapy by looking at and acquiring art? 

I really appreciate the value of therapy and would love to try formal art therapy but like many other spoonies it is both geographically and financially unavailable. But that doesn't mean that I cannot participate and experience real benefits by working on my own at home. I am already gaining new insights from the first chapter of The Art Therapy Sourcebook into how formal art therapy can help me and many others with chronic pain and illness.

If working on a drawing or craft project when I am in extra pain, fatigued or emotionally 
exhausted makes me feel validated as a person, then I believe that self administered art therapy is an effective tool for pain management. Whether that pain is physical or emotional. 

Last week I wrote for The Wolf and Me, where I spoke about my favourite kind of project and that is what I have for you today. 

I'd like you to meet Rose. She used to belong to a friend who had to give her up because of their illness. Loss is a part of everyone's life but it becomes more prominent in the lives of those of us with chronic illness.

This project has helped me look more honestly at the things that I have lost due to CRPS 
and evaluate those things that I still need to learn to accept. There are many. Some I was 
aware of and understand but many new things I wasn't acquainted with before embarking 
on this request. What this really demonstrates for me is that art therapy can occur successfully outside of a clinical setting. I had no idea that any of this would crop up for me, I thought I was going to draw a horse and do a nice thing for a friend, but instead my brain woke up and I found old parts of myself that I hadn't realised were lost to me.

So I am now faced with the task of working through these new ideas and I will share these along with the insights I have gained so far from reading The Art Therapy Sourcebook over the next few posts.  

Rose
soft pastels and charcoal on tan toned paper, 148 x 210mm, 2015

I hope that it also helps Rose's owner who I'm sure must miss her very much. I truly believe that art has great potential for healing. Whether that means making it yourself, enjoying some art appreciation in a book or at a gallery or requesting a personal and meaningful commission from an artist. 

Art therapy is a complicated and long process and of course formal art therapy would be advantageous, but if self administered art therapy is all you got, then get in there. Take out your pencils, open a book and just go for it, as I found out this week, you never really know what you'll find out about yourself. 

Until next time lovely readers, stay creative and leave your requests below xo. 

The Wolf and Me

This week I wrote a guest post for The Wolf and Me where I shared my experience living with CRPS. I also talked about how I use my art practice as art therapy as a pain management technique. You can read the post here. I hope you enjoy reading my story and that you find something within that you can apply to your own journey.

Guest post on The Wolf and Me

The Wolf and Me is a fantastic blog about living with Lupus and other chronic illnesses. The author Cass generously shares her everyday experiences with chronic illness. Her thoughts and tips are so insightful. Please read her other posts, I cannot recommend this blog highly enough. 

Until next time lovely readers, make sure you take some time each day to be creative.

Helena xo

The Hedgehogs moves into the Whimsical Woodland

The past week has been tough, health wise, so I made the decision to practice self care and produce a post for myself. No studying, nothing complicated, just drawing and story telling.  Chronically Whimsical Tales would like to welcome you to the first tale of the year, I hope you enjoy it. 

The Hedgehogs move into the Whimsical Woodland.

Moving day is usually a stressful day, but when you are moving into the Whimsical Woodland it's hard to feel anything but happiness. Mr and Mrs Hedgehog have their shiny red wagon neatly packed high with boxes.

Behind them, scurrying excitedly, their three tiny babies talk excitedly about the first thing they are each going to do in their new home. 

After a long journey through the Whimsical Woodland the Hedgehogs finally arrived at the big hollow log that Mr and Mrs Hedgehog had chosen as their home. Sometime later after boxes had been unpacked, pictures hung, clothes and toys and books put away, the Hedgehogs settled in for the night with a bedtime story. Tomorrow would be their first day in 
Woodland and they could not wait for it to begin.

Chronically Whimsical Tales has received some requests lately which I will be sharing with you over the coming weeks. If you have any animals you would like me to draw or subjects you would like me research just leave me a message in the comments below.

Until next time look after yourselves and go an find your creative side. Sometimes being selfish is the best way to look after yourself and everyone else in the long run. 

Let's get serious

Before we begin let's talk about what art therapy actually is and what it is useful for. I am not an art therapist but an artist who found that returning to drawing really helped me to cope with my chronic illnesses, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. 

Art Therapy or Art Psychotherapy uses the creative processes of art making, dance and drama to explore emotional, psychological and physical issues. It is both diagnostically and therapeutically in conjunction with traditional psychoanalytic or psychodynamic principles. Patients can find that working through a creative framework helps them to build self esteem, explore and clarify emotions that are difficult to verbalise, learn better ways to communicate, strengthen fine motor skills and develop coping skills and confidence. 

That is all pretty technical so why don't I show you what I do. Living day to day with chronic illness brings with it constant fluctuating pain, fatigue and insomnia and with all these often comes a loss of self worth. I've have relished in drawing and making things for as long as I can remember so throwing myself into art again when my health began to deteriorate further seemed like a reasonable idea. A year on I count it as one of the smartest ideas I've ever had. Despite this being one of the hardest years health wise, since my diagnosis in 2009, it has also been my happiest. 

The first thing I want to draw when I feel the creative itch or want to distract myself is always animals and the first animal is always a rabbit. I am always drawn to their gentle nature and sweet faces. I recently received a set of Copic Markers for Christmas after lusting for them for months and months. Of course my first experiment was an inquisitive baby rabbit.

Baby rabbit study in graphite, copic multi liner and copic ciao marker

There are times that working on detailed portraits is too much for my eyes or hands or both so I fill sketch pages with quick studies of a new animal I like to learn to draw like these powerful lions I was learning for a friend who wanted a piece of Chronically Whimsical Tales for their home.

Lion studies in coloured pencil 

Mandalas are a very popular art therapy exercise and also tie in very well with mindfulness meditation, which I have been practicing diligently for several months for my chronic pain. I couldn't recommend it highly enough. Although mindfulness takes many months and years 
to learn it is well worth it for the sense of calm it teach you to induce at a moments notice. 
When it's too much to work on animals, mandalas are easy and enjoyable. Their simplicity, 
repetitive patterns and playful colours soothe brain fog and distract from physical and 
emotional pain.

 

Mandala in coloured pencil

Zentangles are new to me, they're all the rage on Pinterest, Instagram and every other form of social media you could thing of. They're like freestyle mandalas but have a lot of more 
structure at the same time in that they are composed of smaller and more detailed patterns. 
I have found that they are good for working my brain rather than soothing it. Sometimes it is 
nice to wake up and work hard and the results become more beautiful the more you 
practice.

Zentangle in graphite

When friends and family have a birthday or special occasion I like to make them a card 
instead of buying one. Sometimes I use a drawing I have already done but I often do custom pieces specially for them, usually of their favourite animal, because when I am feeling at my 
best I love to work on detailed animal portraits. This gives me the greatest sense of productivity and the happiness on my loved ones faces fills me with happiness too. Some cycles are are sweet and kind and should be practiced as much as possible to keep away the vicious ones. I drew this baby fawn for a friend's birthday last year.

Birthday card, baby fawn resting in the grass in coloured pencil

This year I'd like to learn about formal art therapy so I've invested it The Art Therapy 
Soucebook by Cathy A Malchiodi, ATR, LPCC. Over the course of the next year I am going to be going through this book working on the various exercises so that I can develop a deeper understanding of how art therapy works and how it could help manage chronic pain. As I work through the book I will share my progress with you so you can all learn along with me. 

Let's get serious, self imposed study

If you would like to learn more about art therapy see the Australian and New Zealand Arts Therapy Association website ANZATA. 

Until next time lovely readers pick up your pencils and create something and don't forget to leave any requests in the comments below or on my Instagram page xo.

Evolution: Art Therapy in the Whimsical Woodland

Last year I introduced you to the first residents of the Whimsical Woodland, a place that came into being through self imposed art therapy. As is the custom at the start of the year I resolved to return to art making and as my health "evolved" I found that drawing helped me scoop up all the little parts of me that we're floating away. All this scooping eventually turned into the Whimsical Woodland, partly in an attempt to draw something other than bunnies but mostly to practice storytelling through pictures while sharing my experience as an artist living with chronic pain. 

In the spirit of living the January life it is time to renew my resolutions and refresh Chronically Whimsical Tales in the hope that my experience will be beneficial to others living with chronic pain, invisible illness and mental illness. This year I have resolved to treat my art therapy more formally, through self imposed study so that I can share my experience with you in a more practical way and in turn expand the stories of the Woodland. In my last post I spoke about letting go when you need to rest, which I still hold to be true but I think it is incredibly important to continue to make make plans and expand your work as much as possible. Just keep in mind that bumps otherwise known as flares will inevitably slow you down and excepting this slower pace is usually the fastest way through in the long run. 

So this year expect to see a greater division between posts about art and living with chronic pain and the stories of the Whimsical Woodland. However do not expect an absence of bunnies, they are the first thing I go to draw whenever I hold a pencil in my hand, this first thing I think of when my nervous system throws a hissy fit and quite frankly so deeply ingrained in my heart that there really is no hope.

Please enjoy the first official bunny of 2015 with love from Chronically Whimsical Tales.

Until next time my friends, pick up a pencil and draw something. Don't forget to leave a photo for me in the comments down below. 

Push and Shove: learning when to let go

As a spoonie there are days and even weeks when you have to make the call between pushing through and giving in to you need to rest. These last couple of weeks my migraines have flaring so drawing has been out of the question and I have missed you and all of the creatures of the Whimsical Woodland terribly.

Living with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a complicated business. There is a reason that particular c-word in in the title. I've learnt more in the last 5 years than I thought was humanly possible but most of all CRPS has taught me that balancing my plans against my obligations means that sometimes I have to let extra things Go. This dear reader is known as the practice of pacing. This past few of weeks it has been my art that has been set aside but that does not mean that I have let go of the Woodland all together. 

Instead of drawing character studies I have been writing down my ideas because if you don't jot down your ideas once you feel better you'll find their hazy threads difficult to pin down. A hard lesson I learnt at Art School when I stubbornly insisted on working on my photographic pieces without first working through my ideas. By my second year I discovered the splendid practice of proposal writing and it helped me to work through my ideas. This has meant that this last couple of weeks I've simply switched up my creativity and used it to cope with my flare up in a different way. There is always a way so keep on keeping on lovely readers. Don't forget to leave any requests in the comments below or on my Instagram account where you can follow my spoonie journey.

If you or someone you know lives with a chronic or mental illness of any kind and you would like to learn about pacing please go to www.butyoudontlooksick.com to read The Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino. It is by far the most honest, affirming and helpful explanation of how we live with chronic illness day to day.

The creatures of the Whimsical Woodland decorate their tree for Christmas.
The Rabbits and Mr Hedgehog hang baubles but it looks like Freddie the
Fox kit isn't quite up to the task of hanging the lights. 

I hope to be back with you in the Whimsical Woodland very soon and I hope this quick sketch makes up for my recent absence. Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season and I look forward to introducing you to more members of the Whimsical Woodland in 2015. 

Special Request

A new friend has come to live in the Whimsical Woodland, this chubby little red fox kit.

As you know I love to draw and the most common advice you hear from successful artists is to make what you love. I love animals so for the most part that is what I draw. This week I have had a special request from a friend on Instagram to draw a baby red fox. 

I have had a problem with foxes since I was a child and when I first started this request I found it extremely hard and wanted to give up. I have spoken to you a lot already about using creativity to cope with chronic illness. To find a sense of purpose, distract yourself from and simply enjoy yourself, so I thought this week I could use this opportunity to talk to you about how others areas in which you can use art to heal and move on. 

You've all noticed that I absolutely love rabbits. I have had a pet rabbit for most of my life. When I was about 10 years old my rabbit Snowy, who happened to be the first pet rabbit I ever had, was taken by a fox. I got him from Santa the Christmas before I started kindergarten, I was 4. I was completely heartbroken when it happened and to this day I am still filled with sadness and anger each time I see a fox. This is unfortunate because they are everywhere at the moment, on just about every dress, t-shirt, handbag, mug and every other trinket you could imagine. More importantly they are an animal just as important as any other, so as an animal lover having such feelings towards any animal doesn't sit comfortably with me.  

A chubby little red fox has moved into the woodland, I
hope his mum, dad and siblings are close behind him.

It's safe to say that I have a problem with foxes but now that we have gotten the angry sads out of the way let us think about how I could take my own advice and draw through it even if it has nothing dealing with pain, fatigue or frustration. This year particularly, I have found that drawing animals I haven't drawn before (which aside form rabbits is most of them) stimulates my brain in a similar way to my brain training. So I decided to use this to work through these feelings I have and try to move on from this trauma I experienced so long ago. Let's face it, it is about time.

I sketched a lot of foxes in graphite, my favourite medium. After a while I started to see the arrangement of shapes that made up the fox. A series of triangles, set up in the right way made a great fox. I then started to focus on the colours, the golden shades of orange interspersed with black and white. Mr Fox really was shaping up as a dapper fellow and I began to see that there was a cute side, just. Their bright eyes and coy expressions really captured my attention and I started to think about where they would fit in in the Whimsical Woodland.

Art gets us through so many things. The process of art making helps us make sense of those wispy notions that swirl around our minds when we are quiet and pensive. Simply materialising these thoughts is even helping me change my attitude. I wouldn't say I was cured yet but it is safe to assume that more foxes will be moving in to live with the rabbits in the Whimsical Woodland.