Practice relaxing art activities is an excellent activities for relaxation.
Indeed, knowing de-stress and this loosen is an essential skill for a healthy life. With life being so hectic and unpredictable, you find yourself constantly stressed and exhausted.
Art therapy activities are a healthy and effective way to release stress and regain control of his emotions.
Staying calm despite life’s troubles will allow you to see the big picture and find solutions creative to your problems.
To help you, here is some examples of relaxing art activities that you can practice to evacuate your stress and let go of your mind.
Meditative painting
Combine the relaxing powers of meditation and creation with meditative painting.
This way of painting is very soothing and therapeutic. If you find it difficult to relax while meditating, this type of artistic activity could help you. Repetitive movements will help you focus on the present moment and bring calm.
You will need:
- Sheet of thick paper (224g/m² minimum)
- Gouache or acrylic paint set
- Brushes of different sizes
- Paint palette (you can use plastic or scrap metal lids)
- Cup of water to rinse the brushes
- Cloths
Find a quiet place where you can spend time undisturbed. Then, prepare paper, brushes, a plate and cups with water.
Choose at least two colors that you will use. Choose only those that evoke positive emotions in you.
When everything is ready, focus your attention only on the paper and colors you have chosen. Start by painting repeating patterns such as straight lines, zig-zag lines, waves, spirals or curls.
Paint until you completely cover the paper, then move on to the second coat. Use a contrasting color or a different shade of the same color, choose a different pattern.
Change the paint speed and brush thickness. Find the colors and patterns that relax you the most. That’s the point of diapers, to find out what works for you at the time.
Don’t think about aesthetics, your goal isn’t to create art, it’s to relax.
Painting with fingers
Finger painting is one of children’s favorite art activities.
This is captivating and relaxing. Slide with fingers on the paper without direction or purpose, but to play and explore. Leaving the colored trail behind.
To feel the texture of the paper through a liquid paint. All of this makes finger painting a great art therapy activity and you reconnect to your inner child.
You will need:
- Sheet of thick paper (224g/m² minimum)
- Finger paint or gouache paint set
- Cup of water to rinse your fingers
- Cloths
In the paint set, choose only colors that have a calming effect on you.
Remember that your goal is the process itself, not the finished product.
Pay your attention to the texture paper and sensation paint on your fingers.
Move across the paper in all directions, use all fingers at once or just one or more. Use both hands at the same time.
Of the movements repetitive movements in time with your heartbeat will relax you and align your body and mind in a similar way to meditative breathing.
For example, you can draw the infinity symbol and retrace it again and again. It can be very soothing.
Create a mandala
Drawing and coloring the mandala activates the left and right sides of the brain. This activity therefore induces a balance cerebral.
Some studies have shown that creating a mandala has an effect similar to that of a meditation. It calms your mind and focuses your attention on the present moment.
Circular patterns and repeating mandala shapes bring a sense of balance and have therapeutic effects on the mind.
If you don’t feel comfortable drawing your mandala yourself, you can download and print a coloring template from the internet. There are a multitude of models, you are sure to find the one that will inspire you.
Draw your ideal place
Draw your ideal place is a beautiful meditative art activity that will not only relax you, but also make you happy.
By drawing, you imagine and think intensely about something positive.
Too often we get caught up in a stream of negative thoughts, so this activity is a great way to break that stream.
Draw or paint the medium you are most comfortable with and choose your favorite colors. Your favorite place doesn’t just have to be a physical place. It can also be an activity, a thing, a memory, a color or an atmosphere for example.
Anything that makes you feel peaceful, relaxed and happy draw it.
Create a zen collage
View and work with images Zen will calm your mind and bring you into a relaxed state. Indeed, this artistic activity is soothing and inspiring.
You will need:
- Sheet of paper (224gsm), it can be white or in your favorite pastel color
- Scissors, glue and gel pens
- Large piece of paper, it can be white or in your favorite pastel color
- Scissors, glue and gel pens
- Assortment of magazines with many soothing images like travel, nature and spirituality magazines. The women’s press is also full of articles on these same themes.
Zen collage creation is an activity meditative which begins with the search for serene and soothing images.
The next step is cutting.
You can cut in a shape for example oval, then cut all the images in this same shape, with different sizes.
When all the pictures are ready, start pasting them on the sheet of paper you have prepared.
Finally, if you feel like it, you can write quotes or words between the images to complete your Zen collage.
It’s a good idea to keep your zen collage so you can watch it whenever you feel the need.
Gentle activity
This is an activity that aims to strengthen attention and concentration. Both are important for staying in the present moment and intentional relaxation.
This gentle activity also stimulates the sense of touch in addition to creativity.
This artistic activity is beneficial to relaxation because it involves soft materials that make you feel good.
You will need:
- Piece of cardboard or fabric to use as a base
- Variety of soft materials like cotton balls, faux fur details, sponges, pom poms, socks, scraps of fabric
- Hot glue gun or textile glue
Create sweetness by gluing soft materials to the base.
You can do this randomly, just focusing on the softness of the objects, or you can be creative and arrange objects into different patterns and shapes.
Let the soft materials loosen and bring you calm. Have a warm, soothing cup of tea to complete the experience.
Meditative coloring page
Meditative coloring gives your brain some much-needed relaxation. Coloring has been shown to reduce restless thoughts and calm the mind.
It’s easy and effortless.
Sometimes it can be very difficult after a long and exhausting day to practice an artistic activity. However, coloring does not require any preparation.
All you need is a drawing and some colored pencils to start relaxing. There are many free coloring patterns that can be downloaded and printed.
Relax with modeling clay
Often life can seem out of control and this causes stress.
Handling the dough gives a feeling of mastery while keeping your hands busy. This allows the brain to relax.
Practice this activity with scented modeling clay and try to create simple shapes or objects.
Take deep breaths and let the scents calm you down.
Trick ! You can also add relaxing oils to your modeling clay.
The most used relaxing essential oils are:
- Lavender
- Incense
- lemon eucalyptus
- Savory
For me, vanilla or coconut flavors are my favorites. 🙂
Painting to music
The music has a real soothing effectits combination with the creative gesture is a very powerful relaxant.
Listen to soft music while drawing or painting and let the music guide you. Choose colors that inspire and relax you.
Close your eyes and let your other senses take over.
Express yourself freely, let go, release the stress and tension that is holding you back.
In conclusion, I thank you for reading this article and I hope that these activities will be useful to you and that they will help you to manage your stress in a healthy way.
Do not hesitate to share in comments your experiences or if you know of other artistic activities for relaxation.
Relaxing art activities art therapy activities for relaxation
5 creative relaxing art activities to boost your mood
Have you ever looked for new ways to change your mood ?
Every day we have to deal with situations that challenge our mood. We try to overcome them by implementing certain actions.
However, what works for one person may not work for another. And what worked in the past sometimes doesn’t work in the present.
Therefore, have you ever tried to explore your creativity ?
Nope ?!
Yet if you can hold a pen or press the shutter button on a camera, guess what? You are a creative !
Art offers you the unique opportunity to be completely immersed in the self-expression. By doing so, you are able to calm our nervous system and more easily access a state of mindfulness.
Don’t forget that the most important thing concerns the process of creation rather than the aesthetics of the finished project.The profit of these artistic pursuits is for yourself.
You can be as messy or abstract as you want, no criticism allowed!
So be curious and try these five relaxing art activities which are a simple way to access your creativity of change your point of view and of boost your mood !
Walk in pictures
Log off for a few hours, put your phone in airplane mode and grab a camera.
Go for a walk outside and photograph 6 things on your way that challenge or inspire you.
This exercise is a great way to calm your mood.
Emotion Stones
Find a small rock or pebble and write something on it that you would like to get rid of, such as anxiety, self-doubt, fear or anger.
Take it near a body of water and throw it, as far as possible!
No water ? Bury it in the ground!
Feel this relief and change in mood.
Postcard from paradise
Imagine yourself in a heavenly place.
How do you describe it? What do you like there? What do you feel ?
Is there birdsong or soft music? Do you feel the heat of the sun on your skin or a light breeze in your hair?
Let your imagination run wild!
Create a postcard from this imaginary place, by cutting and pasting pictures in old magazines for example.
Write a letter to the other side, sharing your experience and mood with someone else. As if you were writing a holiday postcard. Of course, you don’t have to send this letter.
Identify your personal strengths
Draw the first letter of your first name by making a large capital letter on a sheet of paper.
Think of a difficult experience you overcame. What personal qualities enabled you to overcome it?
Write these personal strengths in the capital letter, or on its outline and decorate it as you wish.
This exercise allows you to regain confidence in yourself and in your strengths. Mood booster guaranteed!
Outdoor creation
Create an ephemeral image outdoors.
You can for example draw a shape or write a word in the sand, or in the earth for example.
Create shapes, words with water and a brush or chalk on a wall or on the floor.
These are temporary creations so let go! Let your inner child speak and have fun!
To conclude, I hope these exercises will be useful for you to change your mood in a few moments and help you let go of the stress of everyday life.
You can share your experience in comments to exchange ideas and help other people explore their creativity.
Relaxing art activities to soothe anger
relaxing art activities art therapy activities for relaxation
This exercise will help you feel more grounded and calmer by releasing tension, addressing the source of anger, and getting in touch with your body.
To make the most of this inner journey, make yourself comfortable and arrange your space and the atmosphere. You can light candles and prepare comforting tea or hot chocolate, for example.
Crafting materials you need
The materials you need are:
- Air-drying white or red clay
- Clay modeling tools (optional)
Mindfulness and intention
Before creating, invite mindfulness and become aware of your physical body/self.
Gently bring your attention to your breathing, inhaling, and exhaling.
When you feel angry, what sensations do you feel in your body and where do you feel it? For example, you can feel it in your belly, in your heart… Pay attention to your physical feelings.
When doing this self-art therapy exercise, practice non-judgment and acceptance. There is no right or wrong way to make art. Just focus on your expression, your intention and your feelings.
Art therapy activity
Now that you are ready, here are the steps:
- Use clay to create an “angry” object, character or animal
- Then create what that angry object or animal is trying to protect or afraid of
Clay work is a kinesthetic experience that releases tension, stimulates energy and helps release it through movement. Since the material is moldable, it takes our energy and we invest more in it.
Clay reconnects us to the earth.
Reflection in writing
When the work is complete, do a reflective exercise to deepen your therapeutic work.
Take a notebook and a pen. Write down the answers to these questions:
- How is it to work with clay? What did you like or dislike?
- What comes to mind when you look at the two pieces? Similarities and differences?
Take the time to reflect on what you wanted to express. The simple fact of having exteriorized your anger in an artistic way and in writing frees you from tensions and calms the mind.
You can repeat this exercise whenever you feel the need.
5 original relaxing art activities to express your emotions
Relaxing art activities art therapy activities for relaxation
For many people, it can seem very difficult to put their emotions on paper to express them.
There can be several explanations. Already, it is possible that you are too preoccupied with the results because you are a perfectionist or critical with yourself. You may also have difficulty visualizing or getting in touch with the feeling or emotion being felt.
First of all, it is quite common to feel this. Drawing feelings is a very complex activity, because it is not reproducing something that we see. An emotion is not palpable in matter.
We try to translate what we feel in our body into something we can see with our eyes. That’s why it’s important to give up trying to draw realistically.
Rather than using our eyes to draw something realistically, it’s far more important to tune into our bodily sensations and use our intuition.
And how can you do that?
By practicing above all mindfulness. For those of you who find it difficult to actually visualize the feeling of the emotion (or the emotion itself), this is a great way to break through that blockage. Just focus on what you’re doing, without going into your thoughts.
For example, you can focus on your breathing for a few minutes before starting one of these creative activities. It will be easier for you to be mindful during the practice of your activity.
5 relaxing art activities to express your emotions
1. Use the color collage technique
To express an emotion, use paper of different colors. You can tear it or cut it out and stick it on the support of your choice (rigid paper or cardboard for example).
Using paper is a good technique for getting started in a creative activity, because you have to rely more on your intuition and the creative part of yourself.
When we use drawing or painting materials, we are more fixated on what the drawing or painting “should” look like. When we use the collage technique, you bypass these blocks and use colors and shapes to express emotions.
2. Use clay
As before, do the same exercise, but this time use clay instead of crayons or paint.
Clay is a great material to use because it can feel more intuitive and sensory. It’s easy to get involved in the artistic process.
It also has the benefit of grounding us and bringing us back into our bodies instead of being stuck in our minds and thinking too much.
Clay can also help us express our emotions in a three-dimensional (volume) way. We might be able to find nuances and insights that we couldn’t get from two-dimensional (flat) art.
3. Create your portrait of emotions by collages
Create your emotional portrait with collages (colored paper, magazines, etc.), instead of drawing or painting your emotions. This activity is also a great way to express yourself.
I often incorporate this into my group sessions, when people feel very hesitant to draw or paint in general.
Start by cutting out images, words / texts or colors that represent for you the emotion in which you are. Then stick the different papers on your support as you want, taking care not to leave any empty part on the support.
Collage can offer you a reassuring alternative to expressing your emotions, as it often leaves no doubt about our skills or abilities.
Collage is simply a process of selecting the images you want to put on paper. Using existing materials like magazines or patterned paper also gives us a sense of familiarity, which is reassuring when we are hesitant to make art.
4. Paint with 1 or 2 colors maximum
As a starting point, use only one or two colors maximum to paint your emotions.
Choose one or two colors that represent your feeling, your emotion at the time. Then cover your canvas/paper with this color.
Often, it is an excellent starting point to dare to launch and deepen the painting process.
You may want to add lines, patterns or shapes in addition to the color you just defined. Do what you feel, what suits you. There is no right or wrong way to do this. The best way is yours!
Many people get stuck in starting the art creation process. That’s why this trick can help you start without thinking too much and overcome this blockage.
5. Poetry Writing + Drawing/Painting
This last trick may involve more words than pictures at first, but it can be a great springboard to start drawing or painting.
What you will do is take a page from a book, magazine or other material that has text, writing. Take a black marker and “black out” most of the words on the page except for the ones you want to leave.
Basically, you only leave words that resonate with you on an emotional level, perhaps words that accurately reflect your emotions.
At the end, you will see that the words you have “remembered” will constitute a sentence or a poem.
Once you’ve gotten your poem, you can use crayons, markers, or paint to add patterns or designs to your creation.
You can also create an image that represents this poem, such as a book illustration.
In conclusion, I hope that these tips and activities will be useful to you in removing some of your emotional blockages.
I know it can be difficult to do these relaxing art activities alone. If you would like an experienced person to guide you in expressing and exploring your feelings, in your conscious and even subconscious mind, I invite you to contact me via the contact form, so that we can discuss.
Through specific therapeutic relaxing art activities and benevolent listening, I help people who need it, to unlock and release what is in their mind and heart.
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