Neurographic Art
Project Level: Easy to Advanced
Neurographic Art is a cathartic, meditative process that allows our unconscious mind to emerge. It is often used as a form of art therapy, and it was introduced to my art group by one of our members who is a therapist. However, we do this art form more as a moment of zen-like contemplation and relaxation. You may delve into the uses of this art form if you wish, but for art day purposes, I will relay how we do it.
What you will need:
Drawing paper, black Sharpie, and colored pencils or markers
Or
Canvas with base coat of neutral paint (or gesso),
Black sharpie, paint pens or acrylics and brushes
Directions:
Take the black sharpie in your non-dominant hand, close your eyes and think of something…something that calms you, something that you want to work on in yourself, something that has been causing you some anxiety, or you can think of someone or something that has great meaning to you.
1. Allow your hand to travel across the page or canvas, from one side to the other, without consciously directing it. Now go back across in the opposite direction. And then a third time across. Open your eyes and you will see three intersecting lines. If you allow yourself to move the pen without controlling it, it will probably not be three straight lines! Sometimes there are wide loops or swirls that take up the whole area, other times it’s a more compact array. Either way is fine!
2. Take the sharpie and smooth out any places where the lines intersect. This can take a while! What you are doing is smoothing any harsh intersections, which represents the jarring moments in our lives. Smoothing those intersections is a calming exercise. Everything is fluid. One of the hardest things for us is to just let go and not try to control each moment, and I have found the exercise of smoothing the intersections calms the almost constant bombardment of thoughts that go through my head. It’s as close to meditation as I can get. HA!
3. Once that is done, now you get creative. Fill in the areas with colored pencils, pens, or paint. As you work, reflect on what is emerging. Take a moment to turn your piece in every direction and analyze it. It may be a purely abstract design, but you may also see that your subconscious has led your hand and images will emerge.
4. You can stop when you’ve filled everything in, or, you can keep going. Add more lines, smooth the connections, and continue filling in.
Pictured below: This is a work in progress to better show the process. You can see the places where I smoothed the line intersections (each is slightly rounded). After my initial three lines, I turned the canvas to vertical, and I started to see the birds. I worked from that direction and continued adding lines. I find that keeping relaxed and allowing my mind to have the freedom to just “be”, is so beneficial!
And don’t worry! The other image is an example of a pure abstract design that one of my group did. You don’t have to see anything specific in your intersecting lines! It’s about the process.
