Category: Uncategorized

I spent most of today at the art show for Bridge Meadows, the community I live in.  It’s an inter-generational community where elders (people over 55) support families adopting children from the foster care system.  In exchange for affordable housing, elders mentor children.  I lead several art classes and mentor children in art and reading.  Once a year we have a recycled materials art show — Box Art.  This year we made Box Meadows, a little village made of imagination and cardboard and other recycled material.  It was a lot of fun, and many supporters of Bridge Meadows came to see what the children created.

 

Before I went to help set up the show, I did my daily drawing.  A few days ago, I’d had a conversation with a friend about animal tokens and symbols.  I said I was a turtle, tree, fox, monkey.  She asked what that would look like, so I tried to draw it.

I was in a rush, but I’m glad I took the time to think about the way we create symbols in our lives, the way color elevates our moods, and the way I perceive myself changes over time.

I’m drawing daily to help manage depression, long-term disability, and life in general.  If you’d like to see the beginning of this project, you can see it here.  You can also follow me through WordPress or on Facebook.

Your thoughts and shares are appreciated.

One of the many benefits of doing this daily drawing practice, is that now I have to accept my mistakes, my wonky lines, my watercolor ineptness, and my imperfect handwriting. For years, I waited until I was really, really good at my art before I started sharing it, but it looks like I’m always going to be off-kilter.  I don’t even know what it means to be really, really good — it’s a transitory judgement that keeps shifting, depending on my mood.  So here is my drawing, complete with mistakes.  I hope you have some creative mistakes today, too.

I’m drawing daily to help manage depression, long-term disability, and life in general.  If you’d like to see the beginning of this project, you can see it here.  You can also follow me through WordPress or on Facebook.

Your thoughts and shares are appreciated.

I’ve got rather too much to do today, so I thought I’d post a visual journal entry from the summer.  In going back through my journals, if I’m in my right mind, I’m surprised by the delights I’ve recorded.  I tend to hang on to sorrows and let delight slip through like water through a sieve.  The practice of keeping some sort of daily record, and aiming to record some of life’s blessings, really works as a way to mange depression and life in general.

I’m drawing daily to help manage depression.  If you’d like to see the beginning of this project, you can see it here.  You can also follow me through WordPress or on Facebook.

Your thoughts and shares are appreciated.

Though this is my 21st post from my depression recovery journal, it’s my 30th drawing.  The first few posts had multiple entries.  When I started I hadn’t planned to share it, but now that I have, I feel that it was a good thing to do.  I’ve deeply appreciated the response I’ve gotten.  There’s something comforting about knowing I’m not the only one struggling with this strange disorder that is so hard to define.

After a month of daily focused drawing, I’ve developed the habit and I look forward to continuing with it.  It’s been so helpful to “out” myself, and to try to come up with some way of uplifting myself everyday.

Thanks to everyone for your support.  Today is International Women’s Day, so I drew an homage to my favorite woman:

I’m drawing daily to help manage depression.  If you’d like to see the beginning of this project, you can see it here.  You can also follow me through WordPress or on Facebook.

Your thoughts and shares are appreciated.