One of the occasional difficulties in keeping sketchbooks is figuring out what to put in them. I mean, there's only so many cartoon heads you can doodle before you want to do something else. So, for the last few weeks I've been playing around with neurographic art, a popular fad among child therapists right now. It's a focusing technique that requires no prior artistic skill and appears to help relieve anxiety and stress.
It's also supposed to promote "mindfulness", the turning of your attention to what is happening in the present moment and then accepting what you observe without judgment. Sounds Buddhist, right, which in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. But, like most 1960's American bastardizations of Buddhism, mindfulness can be a trap if you're not careful. Focused situational awareness is one thing, narcissistic navel gazing with no heed given to your conscience is another. Be cautious.
That being said, you can get some neat images out of the practice. You can even use them for the basis of something more interesting, as I did with a little computer manipulation of the last image. Look up the steps for neurographic art, and have fun; anyone can do it.
3 comments:
Top: A dog, or possibly a moose, riding an ostrich.
Bottom: A very nasty flower that will bite your nose off when you try to sniff it.
I guess that leaves the middle, which kind of looks like somebody tried to make a homemade rosary but didn't read the instructions first.
Yup.
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