Healing Arts: Colors & Images
Colors and images are known tools used in the healing arts. Colors correspond to body reactions: red=stimulation; green=soothing; violet=meditation. Our minds respond to images which translate into body responses like a painting that makes one gasp; a peaceful body of water which soothes the brow; a lump of clay molded into a cup, bisque-fired and painted with glaze, filled with the comfort of hot tea.
Colors are used in industry. Have you ever noticed how many restaurants have red to orange to yellow in the decor? Those colors stimulate the urge to eat and digest. Massage therapy and chiropractor offices tend to be green, a color associated with healing. Nightclubs and bars showcase the color black.
Images are used with everything from diagnosis to promotions. Ever taken a Rorschach test made with ink blots? Children in therapy sessions are asked to draw pictures of the family. Marketers know the impact of subliminal imaging when branding products for public consumption.
I found using colors and images a great way to tell a story without using words. Language can hinder the truth behind emotion or belief. To utter our words out loud or write them on paper, at times, is a risky and life-threatening act. Often, we use language in habituated and programmed ways. Meanings of words tell different stories in different parts of the world. At the beach in southern California, the word “radical” could imply that the ocean wave was impressive, but on the streets of Washington by the capitol building, the word “radical” could mean a protester.
Through the years, I have used a journal to write down goals, dreams, poetry and lists of accomplishments. However, the art journal became a treasured tool as it by-passed the structured language freeway interstate system, and it took me off-road into the grit.
It allowed me to create my own lines to color within. I set the boundaries. If I feel like mud, then, I create the color of mud which is the one color artists try NOT to make. I do it because I can. If I don’t like what I do, I paint over it because I can. I am able to create, recreate, and paint it over again because I can. I don’t need any words to explain my actions.
When emotions build up, I draw masks. I tap into the ferocious wild woman and draw her. If I am struggling to find peace, I use the colors which make me feel the most peaceful, and start there. Sometimes, I listen to music and let my hands dance on the page with an oil pastel as my partner.
If I have any advice today, go to an art supply store. Browse the aisles, ask questions, notice different bush bristles, feel the difference between water color paper and vellum. Count the number of acrylic paints, and see if they sell clay. Check out the easels already set up for you to test drive.
Allow yourself to be like an innocent child at play during a snow day. Allow yourself a little bit of time tucked away between breakfast and bed. Which of your stories will find you, the ones waiting to be told without the armored heaviness of words.
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