marie j.engelsvold

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Express your feelings

This whole summer all my drawings was about reconnecting with my inner space, to find comfort and strength. It has been a challenging time, and it helped me a lot to draw. To draw is for me the most easy and immediate way to express myself, I don't need to be in a specific place, or have a lot of materials. 

I was in a cottage by the sea with my family. I didn't have a place to go to be alone, so I installed myself at the dining table, with some relaxing music in my ears. In that simpel way, I created a little space for myself, and almost every day I created a new drawing. I love to use music as a way to stay focused in the process, and it is a great way to create your own private space, wherever you are. So instead of saying "No, I can't create now, I don't have the space, I can't be alone, and my family needs me". I just allowed myself the time and space, and everybody was happy.

Marie J.Engelsvold: "Inner lamp" 29,7 x 21 cm. acrylic markers (molotow), and pencil on paper.

How to draw, when you are in the midst of personal challenges?

So if you have a busy time, or challenges in your life, it can be quite healing to express yourself through creating. Eventhough your are totally miserable, your whole life is collapsing, and you don't think you have the time and space to create....now is the time!  Express your feelings, get them out on the paper. Use the paper as a place where you don't have to hide, a place for confession. Feel all the sensations in your body, and, feel how they flow out in your arms through your fingers and through your drawing tool. Don't try to control it, just let it flow.

This article get it right to the point "The Courage to Be Yourself: E.E. Cummings on Art, Life, and Being Unafraid to Feel"

Actually the drawing process can be a way to heal and accept your current situation. Do some drawings every day and see how the drawings progresses togheter with your own feelings. When you look at the drawings afterwards, they might struck you as some of the most powerful creations you have ever made. They might not be beautiful or aestethic in the traditional way, but thats not what you are looking for either....? They might be quite messy, and rough but wonderful, unique and charismatic. Try it!

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