Session One
Welcome to the first session of our Art at Home series, brought to you by our art therapist, Rose Verney. These are fun ways to be creative at home, and there is no artistic talent or special skill required – anyone can do these, either alone, or with a child, or with other people in their household. The idea is to have fun, and absorb yourself in a creative activity, with no particular desired result – everyone will do them differently. We would love to hear how you get on – please tell us!
We begin each session with an exercise we call Me Today. After Me Today, we have different games, 2 or 3 in each session, usually a couple of quick ones and one longer activity which will take more concentration. You can use the buttons below to jump to a particular activity, or scroll down the page to complete the whole session.
For session one, you will need paper, and something to draw with, like a pen or a pencil, as well as any other art materials that you would like to use – it’s up to you. For our longer activity this week, you can also use magazines or newspapers and a pair of scissors. Any scrap paper or card will do, and opened out cereal boxes make particularly excellent canvases to glue on!
Me Today
We begin with our Me Today exercise. This is a quick drawing showing a snapshot of how you are feeling, today, on a small piece of paper.
It can be as simple as you like – you can use colour, line, texture, shape, anything at all. It can be a drawing showing something real, or a smudge, or a scribble, or some words – its up to you.
At the end of 8 sessions we will show you how to make all your Me Todays into a small booklet – a record of how life has been for you during these weeks. For this reason it’s a good idea to use the same size of paper each time, so the sheets of paper can be put together between cardboard covers.
We suggest allowing 15 minutes or so for this exercise.
Taking a Line For a Walk
Sit somewhere quiet, if you can, with paper and a drawing implement of some kind. Let the pen or pencil start to doodle, see where it goes, don’t worry about making a ‘picture’ or any kind of planned image, just let the crayon or pencil wander about.
You can vary this exercise to suit you. For example;
- Try doing this with the other hand, then with your eyes closed.
- Try holding a crayon in each hand and using both together.
- Try keeping a ‘doodle diary’, and notice how doodles change over time.
- Try using your own initials as a starting point for a doodle or design.
- Metamorphosis – try changing your doodle in 3 moves to something else.
Let us know what other variations you think of!
The Scribble Game
This is played with another person. Have a sheet of paper between you, and a pen, pencil or crayon each – use a different colour from your partner.
One of you makes a quick scribble on the paper. The other looks at it, turning it around if you want, looking at it from different angles, until you see the beginning of an image. Add to the scribble, turning it into whatever you see. Swap, do it again, and again! You can play this game as many times as you like – we usually allow 20 minutes or so in our group, but at home just carry on for as long as it’s fun.
Larder Shelves
Draw ‘shelves’ on a piece of paper, using a pen or pencil. Imagine this as a larder, and draw what you would like to find in it. You could do this with pictures cut from magazines if you like, or a mixture of drawing, painting, and collage. Compare your ‘larder’ with others in your family, or try making a large family larder picture together.
There are lots of ways to vary this exercise. For example, instead of a larder, you could make;
- A toy cupboard – tidy or not!
- A washing line – what’s hanging out?
- A dining table – what sort of meal are you having?
- A garden shed, or a play house.
Let us know what other ideas for this activity you come up with yourselves.
