I close my eyes and allow the pen to move freely...
wherever it wants to go.
This is something I’ve been doing a lot lately - drawing with my eyes closed. I learned this exercise from intuitive painter, Flora Bowley, during one of her classes a number of years ago. We used it as a starting point to get our creativity flowing before beginning to paint. And as with a lot of things, I forgot about it until recently.
Like a lot of people, I tend to be in my head…. Overthinking. Anxious. Worried. Not present. It’s my default mode, especially when I’m stressed. One of the few things that get me out of my head and into my body is making art. But of course things get a bit more complicated when creativity becomes your job. But drawing with my eyes closed and then just coloring has changed all that.
What amazes me is how soothing and relaxing it feels! I’m guessing it’s because I’m not thinking about making it look like anything. I’m just reaching for the colors. Just filling the spaces, moment by moment. I can color, walk away, pick it up again in a few days… It’s just play. No pressure. No expectation. And there’s a surprise gift at the end because there was no planned outcome!
The nice thing is, it can be done almost anywhere. You can do it by yourself or when you’re talking to people. You can do it while you’re waiting, while you’re on a call, listening to music… You can start and finish in a few hours or do it over the course of a few months, working on it a little at a time. I’ve done it all!
And you don’t need any special supplies - something to draw on and anything you want to color with. So far I’ve used crayons, markers, watercolor paints/pencils (if you’ll be using watercolor, use a waterproof pen so it doesn’t bleed) and acrylic markers. I’ve also made it digitally in Procreate. I’d like to try painting with acrylics, just haven’t gotten to it. I’m thinking as I’m writing that it would be fun to try a variety of mediums all at once - the textures could be interesting! Have to remember for next time.
It’s fun to experiment and change it up. I’ve used lots of colors and I’ve also restricted myself to only specific shades. I’ve even done just black and white, (inspired by a prompt from
). Another thing I do sometimes after I draw is look at it from different angles to see if any images pop out at me. If I see any, I like to highlight them. On the latest one, which I just finished yesterday, I tried something new. I started off with a focal point (the flower in the center), covered it with tape, and then proceeded with my eyes closed. Once I was done, I took off the tape and colored. I think I kind of like it.
So what do you think? Would you like to give it a go? Get your supplies together. Then grab a pen, close your eyes and let your hand move across the paper. Just flow, make shapes, whatever you feel like. Keep moving all over the page until you’re ready to stop. Open your eyes and color away!
I hope you’ll give it a try. And if you do, let me know how it felt in the comments!
This might be a great practice for my daughter to try. Thanks for sharing.
This intrigues me, Mary. I tend to be a slow writer. It feels really difficult to get all the ideas in my head onto the paper, so it's a slow process. At least part of this I know is my perfectionism that creates this feeling that what I put on the page has to be good, otherwise it has to stay in my head. It gets really frustrating working at a snail's pace. So, what you've described here about getting something on the page without even looking at it sounds like it might be exactly what I need to teach those muscles in my brain to get the ideas on paper regardless of how it reads or looks. I'll give it a shot and report back!