Art Therapy

Had a fantastic time away with the YMCA School's Team conference. Not the sort of thing I've had to (co) organise before but it seemed to go relatively well and I certainly felt a development in team spirit and camaraderie.
One of the workers led a workshop on Art Therapy which was good on several levels: as a tool for workers to take away and use at school but also as a way of relaxing and engaging with staff. We also had a creative writing workshop which was good too and I did that session first. Part of that was to look at a picture and to write a story based on what we saw in the picture. This picture for me was of a lake with heavy, stormy clouds gathering over it and a jetty stretching off into the distance. After a time of relaxation during the art therapy, this picture came back to mind and was what I drew. I chose dark blues, purples, gray and black to build up heavy clouds and enjoyed the whole process. It was only when the group facilitator came round did it occur to me that this picture was supposed to represent my state of mind and might actually be quite a concern!

The mind is a mysterious thing and I'm sure deep down you can read a lot into what I drew but I'm quite convinced that my state of mind isn't really gloomy or depressed or with deep worries hanging over it. I just had a fun hour making marks on a page using pretty colours.