Healing through art

Last weekend, we attended an art therapy workshop facilitated by art therapist Maria Lourdes "Tita Maria" Abulencia and organised by Espesyal Pinoy.  Tita Maria had a very spiritual approach to the workshop. She shared how water is a healing element which absorbs our negative energy. As much as possible, it is best to use natural materials in painting -- glass, wood, paper. Combined with water and air, we become one with the elements to create an organic whole.

She taught us the wet on wet technique, where the paper is saturated in water, sponged dry to absorb the excess liquid and then painted on with primary colours.  She first taught the parents to paint so they can experience art coming to life. It was wonderful the way the red crept into the yellow to create orange. There are no rules, and because the medium is fluid, the colours follow their own path on where to go.

When it was the boy's turn to create his own art, I found myself guiding him at first, holding his hand as we bring the brush from left to right of the paper. There was a bit of a resistance from him at the start, he apparently has his own plans for his art! Midway, I let his hand go and he went frantic, happy and wild with his brush. The medium gave him freedom and it also showed me the blossoming of his artistic consciousness.