Reflecting on Colour

Pablo Picasso said, "Colors are only symbols. Reality is to be found in luminance alone. When I run out of blue, I use red."

If one says "Red" – the name of color – and there are fifty people listening, it can be expected that there will be fifty reds in their minds. And one can be sure that all these reds will be very different. -Josef Albers

All colors will agree in the dark. -Francis Bacon

Drawing is feeling. Color is an act of reason. -Pierre Bonnard

There is no model; there is only color. -Paul Cezanne

I cannot pretend to be impartial about the colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones, and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.
-Winston Churchill

There are connoisseurs of blue just as there are connoisseurs of wine. -Colette

Color is the language of the poets. -Keith Crown

Anything can be any color at any time depending on what color everything else is at the time. -Keith Crown

Everything utilitarian needs a little red edge. -Reno Dakota

In autumn you can take one maple leaf and see almost all the colors of the rainbow in it – although you would need your imagination to see blue. -Dorothy Eisenhardt

Colors are light's suffering and joy. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Red protects itself. No color is as territorial. It stakes a claim, is on the alert against the spectrum. -Derek Jarman

Raw umber is my favorite color. Whenever I see that color, I can see and smell leaves and new beginnings. Color is felt, after all.
-Thomas William Jones

Reflecting on Words

As an art therapist, I am always mindful of using invitational language. When children or adults create art in groups or individually it is important for me and the other participants to use language that describes the art in judgment-free terms so clients do not get caught in ‘seeing’ their paintings or artwork from a judging perspective. This helps them stay in process. Words invite and support the body to move into new spaces. The words used in focusing practice and art therapy help create the conditions for the body to move into flow. ‘Presence’ words have space, breathing space around them that allows for a fresh seeing or body experiencing. This is working in the space of creative potential where many possibilities open up for clients. The words help create the conditions and space that allow us breathing room, time, and comfort to enjoy moving into the next step without worrying about having to make meaning of what that next space ‘should be’. The body can rest in partnership with Presence.

Joining the Blogging World

Hello. I am finally joining the world of blogging. I would like to use this blog to post ideas, and reflections about my art therapy practice. In my work I use focusing, somatic experiencing, mindfulness and meditation as well as expressive art, sand tray and play therapy. I am presently working on a paper exploring how 'change' happens in therapy and how my clients have 'changed' me.
I have worked as an art therapist for nine years in Victoria, B. C. and I have just moved to the prairies. I am opening a private practice in June. I am living and working in Regina SK, which is a big transition for me after living most of my life by the ocean. Since last September most of my therapy work has happened online or on the phone. This has been an interesting and very rich way to explore working with clients.