Creative Every Day

Imaginary Monsters

April 13th, 2008

My last class at Artfest was with Theo Ellsworth and it was so much fun! Ellsworth had such a wonderfully weird way about him. He told us about some of the things he does to pass the time using his imagination, such as having a third arm which can reach out to the horizon and pet the sun or the mountains, or could reach around the world and put its hand on your own back. My favorite imagination tip that he shared was one he used in places like a boring party or a long line. In these situations he would imagine the room filling with water (the humans become amphibians) and schools of fish would be swimming between people. He said that this would somehow make him feel more connected to every one there. I totally loved his ideas and I wished I'd had them at the beginning of Artfest just to try out in such an unusual environment.

The class was about communicating with your inner critic and involved one of my favorite activities...doodling. We were given sheets of paper shaped like a head to work on. On the first page we drew with our eyes closed to a long song thinking about our inner critic. And then we opened our eyes, looked at our doodles, and pulled out the images we saw there. The hubster particularly loved this page. He said it showed the crazy inner-workings of the mind and he could understand it. The big blue areas were made with a Chartpak marker. I had thought they were Copic markers (I had a couple of those too), but later I looked back and saw that they were Chartpak. I loved the way the ink flowed out with these markers. It was paint-like and luscious.

This next page was about taking your inner child out to play and we were to draw with our non-dominant hand only to help us get in touch with that part of ourselves. It was definitely interesting to draw with my left hand. All attempts at control were pointless, but I enjoyed it. I ended up creating all sorts of creatures in the tree and the girl reminds me a bit of a Red Riding Hood or Alice type of figure.

On the third page we drew in a way I never had before....we drew with both hands at the same time! I thought it would be a lot harder than it was. We were making a mirror image with each hand. Sometimes my left hand would lag a little behind, but it all worked out. One of the shapes on both sides looked like a bird. Again, we'd find images to work with in this drawing with the focus being on your inner voice.

On this page we were given free reign to draw intuitively with the focus being on the inner monster within and how it turns our "garbage" into beautiful things. I was thinking a bit about my experiences with depression and anxiety and how I've used those experiences to help me create my art. Through making art out of my sadness, I often feel better. Through making art, I can create a sense of hope.

In the last page we were told to integrate all these pages/parts of ourselves into a self-portrait that combines our inner and outer worlds. I did this one intuitively as well, letting the pen move. The swirly lines around the eyes turned into birds without my even realizing it! There were all sorts of little ties between these pieces, the birds (which I was later visited by after class and led to the beach), and red yarn which first made an appearance in a visualization which inspired "Bring Love." The red yarn in these drawings wound around tree branches, in and out of bird nests and carried in bird beaks. Mermaids and whales were also in many of the drawings. All in all, it was a very interesting, relaxing, and illuminating class for me. I especially liked learning some new ways to play with my imagination and hearing from another quirky artist who wasn't afraid to share the way his mind worked. I loved this quote that he shared at the beginning of class:

"For every imaginary problem, there is an imaginary solution." -Theo Ellsworth