Drawing/Sketching

Drawing/Sketching
O

outis

Registrant
With all the discussion of journals, I was wondering does anyone draw or sketch stuff? I bought a tablet of the thick white paper for sketching and tried drawing some things a while back. It was interesting to see what I would come up with sometimes. Not pictures of the abuse, but some of the pictures were of things not so pretty nonetheless.

I still don't draw well, and I haven't tried again in months. Just wondering if anyone else has tried some other visual communication besides written words. What helps you with it? What do you get from it?

Thanks,

Joe
 
I can't draw either.

However, what I did do was draw a picture in the letter to my therapist, again with my non-dominant hand. It was the little me representation of the "bridge" I built to get back to the little me, just stick figures and stuff, a kids drawing. It was powerful for me to put that visualization down on paper, to really see what I was thinking. Using my other hand allowed me to just stop trying to do some sort of 'real' drawing or art and just let it flow.

I found when I do this stuff the emotions just come rushing out, and every time that happens, the little me and the big me come closer and closer to becoming the one person I dreamed of being. The person I would have turned out to be if the bad things didn't happen to me. With the pictures and letters, I am building a detour road that bypasses all the crap. I feel just like Marty in Back to the Future where he's looking at the picture and the bad stuff is fading in the picture until it doesn't exist. My perp is starting to mean less and less to me. My family, and enjoying life is what I am beginning to care about
 
I journal a lot; I have since the late '70s. I've never seen myself as much of an artist. But last fall, when my left hand (I'm a leftie) was healing from carpal tunnel release surgery, I tried drawing some pictures of my inner child with my non-dominant hand. That really opened up the floodgates.

Since then I have done a number of pictures with my right hand. They've really been helpful in coming to terms with the reality of my abuse. I showed the latest set to my therapist and she said that I got perspectives and and relative sizes right; something that someone who hadn't experienced such things wouldn't have. That was very affirming in giving me the courage to believe I wasn't some kind of flaming lunatic.

Tom
 
Heya Joe,

I draw, though not as frequently as I did at first, when the memories were coming at me fast and furious.
There's something about getting in the 'Zone' of freehand drawing, that seems to help me organize my thoughts, and settle down my nerves.
Needless to say I don't draw as often as I really should, or want to. I'll sit for hours just staring at a blank page, pencil/pen in hand, waiting for the Muse to strike.
As long as you get some relief from the bad memories, whatever form your therapy entails is a good thing, IMHO.

Whicker
 
I've never tried drawing lefty. (Some might say what I do righty isn't drawing, either! :D )

My T asked me once to draw a bridge with me crossing it and an arrow to show which way I was going. Sometimes I can draw things by looking at them, but this had to come out of my imagination. (I occasionally work on the "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" exercises. It made a big difference but I haven't kept at it.)

I drew just what she requested, a bridge with a stick figure person on it and a directional arrow. She found a lot of interesting things in my, uh, "mininalist" approach. Now I wonder what it might have been with my non-dominant hand.

Thanks,

Joe
 
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