Drink and Draw workshop!

As part of researching the wellbeing benefits of drawing, I invited a group of friends over to 'test out' some somatic and mindful drawing activities the other week. It was great!

I wanted the session to be gently guided, but also free for interpretation and expression. I've been reading a bit about bilateral drawing and how this connects with the neurological processing.

We were completely floor based, with a large roll of paper spread across the floor.

In many ways, this workshops mirrored some of the content from some children's workshops I did last term, and it was interesting to compare how to delver these from an educational perspective. Children are mostly less inhibited, but adults tend to fully understand and contextualise the content - particularly frazzled and tired mums who are desperate for a creative breather!

Beginning with a simple draw and stretch warm up, circling around and creating a drawn 'conversation' between the group.

Comparing 'blind' or feely drawing with continuous line. Thinking about careful looking and being present when looking at something closely.

I encouraged the group to really stretch their bodies and arms across the paper.

Experimenting with bilateral drawing. it was so interesting to see the varied responses to this.

We all thought the bilateral drawing shown below looked like a pair of lungs! Pretty poignant really given so much of this workshop was about breathing and stretching.