Art in the season of love

February brings in the season of love largely, due to celebrations of valentine’s day. Whether you are in a relationship, single or let’s say complex it’s a month of celebration Truly the month is what you want this to be. For couples in love, it can mean gifts, dinners, and rendezvous and for another day of showing appreciation to people who matter and still other’s a day of loving yourself the most. Art and love have an intricate connection going back centuries. Think, the famous couple Rhett and Scarlett in the book- Gone with The Wind or Sandy and Danny in Grease. Photos of V-J Day in Times by Alfred Eisenstaedt that portrays a U.S Navy sailor embracing and kissing a total stranger still brings a smile on the face, so does - Lovers in the Snow under an Umbrella, a painting by Suzuki Harunobu. Closer home art exists in the famous Kamasutra or the temple of Khajuraho . As Seminole State College states on its website - Art gives us the ability to express ourselves. Through that expression, we communicate by drawing on our own unique emotions, thoughts, and experiences. When you see and study another's art, you're seeing the world through their eyes. When you create, you're letting the world see through yours Art is being increasingly used as a therapeutic tool as “Art Therapy”, that has shown documented benefits such as improved mood, fewer depression symptoms, and better overall quality of life by helping you get in touch with your own feelings. Increasing research on couples in art therapy indicates that there are five advantages for using art in couples counselling sessions (Wadeson, 1980): (1) the immediacy of doing a task together, (2) the genuineness of unexpected material revealed in pictures (which may challenge old assumptions or beliefs that the couple holds onto firmly), (3) the spatial expression of pictures (which can symbolically reveal the couple’s life space), (4) the permanence encountered whereby the drawing provides a concrete object to study, react to, use for clarification/review and (5) the shared pleasure that picture making can provide for a couple who no longer find themselves having fun together. Other studies (Hinz, 2020;Weeks, 2013) have shown that non-verbal communication used in art therapy offers couples opportunities to discover new aspects in their relationship. (Metzl, 2020). Creating art together also offers a new perspective where a 'blame-shame' dynamic could be altered into a curious one (Metzl, 2020). Here are some activities to explore art in the season of love. Painting and Drawing At an individual level exploring paints, textures, smell, drawing can open a portal of healing for you. Studies show painting can enhance cognition in multiple ways. It can spur emotional growth, reduce the risk of cognitive decline, boost memory, and provide other powerful benefits. Painting can help you get in the flow and just relax and be in the moment. In a session on couples, David Zimmerman, used painting as a medium of communication. “One person is talking to the other person and telling them what to paint.” Initially, when you try to do this, it will be difficult as you would have to say exactly what you want your partner to paint and pay more attention to details. But Zimmerman adds, “How you are talking to him (your partner) now is how you talk to him at the house....calm." This form of therapy will help you understand each other and improve your communication with each other. As a couple you can chalk out the weekend as art time and collaborate and work together on a single artwork. You can paint each other and see what shows up. Photo album Photo albums have two jobs. They help us both reminisce and to celebrate. When was the last time you reviewed the journey of your life? Look through some old photographs , rearrange the album or create artwork around a photograph. Pottery Class There is nothing more healing than touching clay and allowing it to mould . Clay play is a multi-sensory hobby: touch, sight, smell and even sound. Clay acts as a relaxant, like a stress ball. It reduces the level of cortisol and using your hands releases a calming effect as cognitive processing occurs whilst moulding and forming clay. Gallery Tours/Art Walks/ Play/ Musical Most major metropolitan areas have a neighbourhood or two bustling with contemporary art galleries. Have a date with yourself in a museum and see how it feels? Or what about watching that play or that musical you have been meaning to go to for years?

Journaling Google – “Journal prompts”, and hundreds of sites open. Decide the topic you want and start journaling. Decide if you want a ritual or do you want it spontaneous.? You may want to review the journal every Sunday or write in it every morning like the Morning pages recommended by Julia Cameron Vision Board Vision boards are just like those collages you made with magazines as a kid, but a bit more planned. Decide what your intention and topic are important to you. Find old magazines, stickers, couples’ memorabilia (like ticket stubs or photos) and choose intuitively. Especially at first, don’t think too much about it. Make a pile of pictures or cut-outs you might use and choose from them later. Find or write phrases that resonate with you. Glue them together and put the chart where you can see it. Try an Art therapy session for healing yourself.