London Workshop / Fall 2010

In September 2010, we held a 2-day creativity retreat in Covent Garden. Some of the participants were artists who had slipped away from art-making due to the pressures of career and life; some were just beginning; others were practicing artists, architects and writers. We even had a former policewoman whose job it had been to do forensic sketches!

In the workshop we used drawing as a way to elude our usual chattering minds and enter into the peaceful right-brain place where we connect with ease to our creativity. In the workshop we practice diving in without concern for end result. It can be very freeing to work alongside others, publicly, and on a large scale.  Drawing can be a meditation—a place where we can look at what we’re doing with detachment and discernment—a real yogic practice. Once we understand how to get tot this place, we can enter the creative flow with greater ease. We also gain essential clarity.

We began by working big and just scribbling. Some scribbles expressed inner feelings, some were explorations of form and material—all were were honest and so had power in them. We drew to music, which frees us from repetitive thought and brings us a place of total focus so critical to the creative process. In the workshop we try to get people to notice this state of mind so that they can replicate it later. The process of drawing in this way was so mesmerizing it was hard to get people to stop once they started.

I really loved how the people who weren’t used to drawing jumped right in. That’s so much of what the creative process is—a willingness to go boldly where you haven’t gone before. And when we do it publicly, we learn much faster.  It’s empowering.

We drew objects and the figure—great exercises in learning to look at the world around us with care and to see what we notice. We also drew from imagination, a way to get playful, even surreal, by pushing the boundaries of expectation. The real point wasn’t to grow our drawing skills but to get to that willingness to dive in and explore, even have fun. We practiced watching our thoughts to see what messages we might be giving ourselves subliminally and if we inhibit or discourage ourselves.

There was so much fantastic drawing. We didn’t get everything photographed but there’s a little of it here.  Look at the amazing energy in these drawings!

In the workshop we give people the experience of working big, and doing new things publicly. Drawing is a kind of primal activity, something many of us have left behind. Just by drawing, freely as children do, we can feel empowered and whole. Drawing can also be a meditative practice, on in which we learn to come into the place of calm detachment so necessary to the creative practice even when what we are creating may come from a place of deep feeling. Drawing can teach us one-pointed focus and to observe our thoughts so that we can recognize inspiration when it appears and act immediately on it.

In the workshop, we give people a chance to experience creative freedom and learn how to dive into new endeavors without hesitation. They’re fun and empowering.