Hi,
I googled art therapy, and found so many different links, it does sound fascinating.
I'm posting this link, as it might help you get started......

http://www.expressyourselfarttherapy.com/

PS
I only posted the link to give you a general overview of what it is. I'm sure you can find more information in your own local area.

LOVE the idea of art therapy. To be honest, I really wanted to major in this in school but my college didn't offer it.

Try listening to music while you "create". I also think working with clay can be very theraputic because there is so much to feel (literally and figurativly).

Also, don't be afraid to take a 101 art class at a community college. Don't worry about being good....most people aren't when they first start out.

Hello I am new to the list but do you have a camera? My daughter loves going out and taking pictures of things! I used to do it all the time too, I think you have also helped me too. What a great idea, I think sometime we forget how to move out of your boxes.
Best of luck!

Why don't you try starting a couple of these things also maybe even gardening or scrapbooking or whatever and see what makes you feel the happiest?

Hi,

It's awesome you want to try a new way of expressing yourself and maybe even discovering more about yourself!

I have found collage to be soothing and creative. Do you have old magazines or picture books you don't mind cutting up? I usually start with one image that catches my eye and then start looking for a kind of interaction between that image and another, and so on. I lay the images down on paper and keep moving them around until they settle into the order that pleases me most. Often I discover new meanings as I combine one image with another. Using imagery from other sources takes the pressure of needing drawing skills off. Glitter, buttons, straws, paint, small metal odds and ends from the garage, whatever you find and like can be fit into it too.

Painting can be very expressive and very therapeutic if you go into it without expectations. What bubbles to the surface from your unconscious mind tends to be much more powerful than what you might expect with your critical mind, but it can also be intimidating and you might feel a little lost at first.

Purely for distraction and self-soothing, I crochet. It's easy to learn, very repetitive, and if you follow instructions you will come up with the desired item in the end. I make my own patterns because I've been doing it a long time, but it doesn't have to be creative, just something to occupy your hands and mind when it's spinning out of control.

I can't begin to scratch the surface of what can be art therapy, so I just mentioned a few of my favorites. I'm not an art therapist, just an artist who's read a few psychology books. You can probably find tons of ideas online. Have fun! I'll look forward to hearing about what you do :)

I remember being in a psyche ward, and we went to art therapy. I loved it. The therapist put "yes, believe it or not--John Lennon" on the CD, and we were told to paint a road, I believe, or the road that we have traveled on.
It wasn't about the work being good or not, it was just about expressing ourselves in a different kind of way.
Well, I was very into the project, and when I looked up and looked around, everyone had sketched or painted some kind of road or path with different images along the way.

When I looked down at my work, I had painted, (or crayoned or pencilled, I don't remember that part) a house. There was no road. No driveway. No path.

Just a house. My house actually. The one I had been living in.

And over the house was the moon, with lots of stars.

I was mortified. I looked around and said, "oh, I didn't draw the path that I have been traveling on...etc"

She said "yes, you did....you expressed yourself the only way you knew how"

I still don't know what she meant, and we were told to leave our work behind. I remember I wanted to take mine with me, but they wouldn't let me. They said we had to leave them behind us.

Sad, really.

But upon reflection, I can easily see how art therapy is an extremely useful tool in getting to our unconscious minds.

w

Thank you all for the advice. I haven't been on here in a couple of days because I've had the flu. Ugh!

Today I'm going to visit a local art and craft store. I think having a project will be fun and productive as well as take my mind off the lonliness of the holidays.

I really do appreciate each suggestion. There are so many things I want to try right now!

Thank you all! Hugs xoxoxo