Art Is Freedom: Turning Emotions into Expression
Behind the Smile: Oil Pastel on 16×20 Canvas
According to the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy can serve as a supplement to traditional mental health treatment and help boost cognitive function, emotional resilience, and self-confidence. It is also a powerful tool for reducing stress. Think about adult coloring books and the hobbies many of us pick up later in life. Coloring and painting can be calming and relaxing, offering an escape from the chaos of adulthood.
I use art to relieve stress all the time. What I have not done in many years, however, is use my art to reflect my emotions. Thanks to a friend who encouraged me to do so, I grabbed a blank canvas and some oil pastels and started creating.
As an adult, and with so many things happening in the world today, especially in today's political climate, I turned to art to express how I feel and the mental load I carry on my shoulders. I chose a black canvas to reflect the darkness I sometimes feel surrounded by. Oil pastels were my medium of choice because they are quick, easy to blend, and simple to work with. I did not want to spend a lot of time blending, mixing colors, or waiting for paint to dry, so oil pastels were the perfect fit. I originally planned to burn the canvas afterward, but I think I will hold on to it for a while.
My portrait is at the center of the canvas. I am smiling, with my best features my dimples on full display. I chose this particular image because of how my hair looked that day: big, curly, and expressive. The curls became a place where I could weave in the thoughts, emotions, and burdens I carry. The images within my hair represent the things I am dealing with that others do not see—the sources of anxiety, pressure, and the constant tension that settles into my shoulders.
One of those images is a pile of laundry that never seems to end. Another reflects the way women are often targeted and scrutinized through messages on the news and social media. You can also see a tape measure wrapped around my neck, symbolizing the pressure to look a certain way. Personally, I blame much of that pressure on the endless stream of social media advertisements promoting weight-loss pills, the latest workout trend, or whatever the "new skinny" happens to be. I did not realize how much of that messaging I was absorbing or how deeply it was affecting my body image and the way I view myself as a mother of two.
The hand reaching out of the water represents the feeling of drowning—drowning in tasks, bills, and unspoken expectations. The handcuffs wrapped around the laundry basket, washing machine, to-do list, broom, and clock symbolize how tied I sometimes feel to the responsibilities of parenthood and adulthood. It can feel as though if I do not get everything done immediately, I will only have more to do later. Yet if I tackle everything right away, I am often too exhausted to do something for myself. Some days, it feels like a lose-lose situation.
I will not go into detail about what every image means to me. This piece was something I truly needed to create because, at times, a journal simply is not enough. Art gave me a way to release what words could not fully capture.
Paint away your stress.
Art is freedom.