Mindful Mother # 3
Using Art to Explore Containment and Boundaries
Welcome to the Mindful Mother Newsletter, an installment of Healing the Roots, Letting the Soul Bloom. This newsletter is for all the moms of all the age kids to help us best mother and care for ourselves so that we can best care for those around us. Enjoy this newsletter every Monday as a tool to help you connect with yourself, God, and/or your people through a soul-nourishing practice.
This week’s installment of the Mindful Mother Newsletter is an art play and exploration activity. No true art experience or skill required- seriously see below in the examples for one my 6 year-old made!
In this practice/activity, we will be exploring boundaries, relationships, and emotions. The colors, shapes, and patterns that show up in your art might be enlightening! Or it could be just some abstract play that you don’t force meaning out of, and that is wonderful too! This can be a fun activity to invite your kids into as well. Maybe they fill one shape with what it is like at school, another like at sports, and another like at home. There is no wrong way to do this; everyone can just play! I suggest reading through the instructions and then glancing through the examples and explanations as a place to start. Then come back and choose materials and an idea/relationship you would like to explore. In general, allow 15-40 minutes for this activity depending on the materials you use and the details you want to explore.
Ideas for Materials:
Background/Canvas: Anything from paper, poster board, mixed media paper, a piece of a cardboard box, to a canvas can work for your background. You’ll want to choose something appropriate for the materials you use to add color
Choose a material (or more than one) to add color… think markers, colored pencils, crayons, chalk, pastels, paints, watercolor, tissue paper- truly whatever feels comfortable and workable for you!
Loose Directions:
Relationship Exploration and Boundaries:
Begin by thinking of your relationships or perhaps a particular relationship where boundaries are a theme or growth area. Notice the emotions that come up within that relationship or in those settings. What emotions do you notice? Do the emotions have a texture, color, or shape?
With a pen, pencil, or marker draw lines, shapes, or squiggles… whatever feels right to you in representing yourself, other people, the relationships, and/or boundaries
Use color, texture, and other means that feel helpful to add depth to your exploration
Keep adding color, words, textures, lines, shapes, etc., until things feel complete
After you are finished, take time to reflect. Here are some questions that may help guide your reflections:
What colors are dominant in your art? Is there anything they represent?
How do you feel looking at your overall picture? What happens when you shift to just notice parts of your picture?
Take a moment to notice the interactions across the lines… are they crisp and clearly defined and separate or is there a lot of bleeding over? Are some areas and colors completely overtaking other areas? What could this represent?
What was the process of creating this picture like for you? Were you completely in your head? Were you completely in the art and following what felt/looked right? Does that connect in any way to how you live your life?
Did you have any insights as you created your art? Perhaps take a few moments to journal through insights- the back of your piece can be a great place for this! Are there any words you’d like to add to your picture to help remember a theme/insight/awareness? (see examples for some options of how to do this)
Need some more help? Here are some examples from this activity. Notice the different approaches you can take with this prompt- exploring relationships with others, yourself, with God or even how two different settings or environments feel.
***All artists gave consent for their art and insights/interpretations to be shared.
Small 3”x4” card cut from mixed media paper, watercolor, and fine-tip sharpie. In this example, the artist explores the idea of unsolvable dynamics in her relationship with the Divine/God. The blobs represented different problems, questions, and emotions she was holding, and the background was her larger reality. The colors blend and bleed into one another. She wrote the words “Lean into the mystery” as they were her take-away from the exploration activity.
Pastels on mixed media paper. In this piece, the artist explores an idea of feeling different than her surroundings. She chose green and blue as the colors of nature and peace. She chose warmer colors to make up her surroundings. As she created this piece, the artist realized and noticed that the colors that are within her also exist within the world, she sometimes just has to look a bit harder and beyond some of the noisier chaos to find them.
Watercolor on 4x4 Watercolor Paper. In this piece, the artist explores her relationship with her body. It feels a little fragmented, yet still smoothly flows within some spaces. She wrote the words “My body has done amazing things” to help her remember those words.
Watercolors on 8x11 card stock. In this piece, the artist explores his friendships and relationships with his family. As he paints, his mom guides his process by saying: “Choose a friend. What color is that friend? What shape?.. okay, choose another friend or person, is that person the same color or different? What shape would they be?” The artist paints for a few minutes depicting those friends. After having several shapes on the paper, she asks questions like “Do those friends know each other? Do you want to draw lines or circles or make a background that connects the friends?” The artist begins to talk and share about his friends, people who are “enemies” and how some friends have more energy and therefore are crazier shapes. This was a fun activity for the artist and his mom- allowing them to connect over his world and her to learn a little more about his friendships.
Pastel on 11x14 poster board. In this piece, the artist used pastels to explore different relationships she has. Each shape represents a different person and the emotions they bring into her life. Notice the textures, gradients, shapes, borders between shapes, and overall feel of the piece.
Watercolor and fine line pens on 5.5x7” watercolor paper. In this piece, the artist explores how she feels in 2 different environments. The colors, lines, shapes, and movement in the different sides convey a dramatic difference. The black ink represents how one environment often pushes and encroaches into the other. Again, the artist pens words to describe an insight she has while painting.
Paint on 11x14 mixed media paper. The artist first randomly drew some lines and shapes in an unplanned and abstract way. Next the artist painted each area to represent the different areas of their life. Notice the different colors used in each area. See how some lines dividing the shapes are clean and crisp while others bleed over? These colors, textures, and flow/lack of flow all relate to an awareness of how different areas in her life feel and engage with her and each other.
The Mindful Mother Newsletter is a helpful tool for increasing your own mindfulness, self-awareness, and soul-care. Tune in each week for a practice that can be used to aid in wholistic wellness. The Mindful Mother Newsletter includes a variety of resources including: journaling prompts, invitations for reflection, embodiment and yoga practices, spiritual formation activities, art play and invitations, and meditations. Not every tool is going to resonate with every person, and that is okay! Take what helps and leave what doesn’t. In time I hope that this newsletter becomes a toolbox of sorts, a space you can go to in order to find a variety of options to help in your own grounding and flourishing.
I’m excited to try this!