Art Directives

for Creative Compassion practice

developed from Museum based Art Therapy

©Freda Blob | FOCUSZART The Focusing Studio

Art Directives from Conference Presentations

Art Directive from the Creative Compassion workshop at the TIFI Focusing Oriented Therapy Conference 2023

Art Directive from the Creative Compassion workshop at the 15th International IEATA Conference 2023 Taiwan

Art Directives for self-pathed Creative Compassion practice (CCP)

Download the free art directives for self-pathed Creative Compassion practice. Enjoy guidance through the videos

Get individual support to forward your Creative Compassion practice towards life changing action steps

Tuning in to Creative Compassion practice

Guided meditation of Focusing Oriented Expressive Arts FOAT®  (eyes open or closed)

Audio: Pebble Meditation - by Dr. Laury Rappaport (adapted from Thich Nhat Hanh)

Slowing down with Dynamic Shape Drawing (eyes open)

Dynamic Shape Drawing: Dynamic Shape Drawing is a meditative practice of anthroposophic art therapy. The practice refers to lines of Celtic braided bands. Basic forms are transformed through rhythmic moving and swinging lines following the breath 

Dynamic Shape Drawing DSD - Directives

You are going to be introduced to three basic DSD pracitices for slowing down and focusing yourself

Tape your piece of paper down onto the table or onto the wall. Standing at the wall makes DSD more sensual as you can move your arm more freely. Take good paper quality, size of paper din A3 min. Use high quality oil pastells. High quality pastells produce better sliding on the paper

Choose the simplest shape to start with and keep up your chosen practice for some days, e.g. 7 days to notice the benefit

• Drawing waves with different colors: Draw horizontal curvy lines adjusting move and breath. Drawing up: breathing in, drawing down: breathing out. Change breathing direction and see what happens - can you feel the difference?

• Drawing a circle: Make 5 dots on your paper: north - south - east - west and a dot in the center. Curve your line along the dots in a circle, continue breathing while drawing without resting the hand on the paper. Repeat several times. Experienced practice: drawing the circle without dots

• Drawing the celtic cross: Make 5 dots on your paper: north - south - east - west and a dot in the center. Draw a looping line from the center downwards and curve around your south, then way back back to the center; draw a looping line to the right and curve around your east, then way back to the center; draw a looping line to the left and curve around your west, then way back to the center; draw a looping line upwards and curve around your north, then way back to the center. Repeat several times. Focus yourself through breathing while drawing: Inhale when drawing downwards, eastwards, westswards and upwards - exhale when curving back to the center

Illustration of Dynamic Shape Drawing by ©Miriam Gronenborn, art therapist (with permission)

Creative Compassion - Art directives

More DSD directives (variations of the celtic cross and other figures of higher challenge) in the free Creative Compassion introduction and in Creative Compassion webinars

Forwarding with Tools of Receptive Art Therapy

Forward your Creative Compassion practice with tools of museum based Receptive Art Therapy

Receptive Art Therapy: Museum based art therapy covers different methods of picture contemplation. Pictures of professional artists are offered to perceive and relate to (receptive part). The viewer is invited to use chosen pictures for experimental painting or collage work (active responding)

Receptive art therapy is seen as an indirect form of creativity applied in education and in clinical contexts (psychotherapy, counselling, palliative care)

"... Receptive work with visual art can help to dissolve limitations in verbal communication. In receptive art therapy, an independent therapeutic resource is attributed to the artistic work and its symbolic pictorial content, which can initiate a healing process. A form of indirect communication is stimulated, in which not only a change on the symbolic but also on the emotional level takes place through the emotionally highly charged pictorial-symbolic expression in the confrontation" from: <https://philpapers.org/rec/FRARKD>

Receptive Art Therapy RAT - Directives

Did you know that the artist Adolf Hölzel drew his pastells with eyes closed directly after waking up? He wanted the unconscious to speak through line, shapes and colors. His morning routine may be something you want to try as well

Choose a reference picture of Adol Hölzel (e.g. one reference picture for 7 days) and create a response to it as morning practice. You can use the same color palette as the artist to start with or choose your own color palette. You can copy Hölzel's composition or take parts of his composition and alter them into free creating. You can use the same art material as the artist (oil crayons and pencil) or choose your own art material of preference

• Document each day of your response practice (make a photo of each of your response pastells), print your documentation and create a Conternina Book for each week (glue down your prints, add free writing) or put prints and writing into your Art Journal
  

• Place your photos on different colored background paper, the colors representing the mood of the day. Create a folder for your sheets of one week, add writing/drawing/collaging
  

• Hang your response pastells into the window to let the light shine through (experiment with layering some of them on top of each other) or create a prayer flag with your response work
  

More RAT interventions in the free Creative Compassion introduction and in Creative Compassion webinars

Experimenting with Intermodal Transfer

Bring your Creative Compassion practice to the next level. Get inspired by tools of intermodal transfer

Intermodal transfer: Shifting between one art modality to another to amplify sensory and emotional awareness

Intermodal Transfer IT - Directives:

Artistic transfer within the visual modality can happen through change of:

• art material: different paper or cardboard, different reference pictures, different kind of pastells or crayons, different paints and brushes for watery techniques, working at table or using the easel/drawing board
  

• art techniques: dry or watery techniques for pastells and crayons. OIl pastells can be smeared, polished or scraped.They can be be "watered" (made transparent) with terpentine substitute. Crayons can be smeared or watered and then get fixed with fixative spray

Intermodal transfer (shifting between different kinds of arts) can happen through:

• free writing/lettering/collaging with words - create a poem to express the atmosphere of your reference picture as a whole
  

• giving sound to colors of your reference picture - become aware of the different color tones of the pictue and hum each time you touch a color field (receptive engagement) or paint it (active engagement), allow yourself to be guided from within doing sound exploration

• exploring rhythmic moves inspired by the reference picture - become aware of the inner dynamics of the picture and express the quality of the dynamics by tapping your body with both hands, use different parts of the body for different sounds (e.g. chest - hip), allow your body to be a body of resonance

• dancing the reference picture - stand in front of your reference picture and follow the curvy lines of the picture through movement, find a posture to stay with and sense inside. Allow yourself to express variations of your posture expressing your body sense, then come into move again. Watch the video of the Adolf Hölzel performance for inspiration

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