Creativity In Counselling Using Crayons.

Creative expression of self becomes important when you are trying to sort out your emotions. I'm tired at the moment so my explanation may be a little vague;

With creativity you can let out things that your subconscious might otherwise repress; like van Gogh and the Irises. Amongst this glorious painting of purple flowers we get one solitary white Iris, it's difference draws the eye. From an existentialist perspective we ask what meaning the solitary iris has to the painter; is it him? Is it just a case of running out of purple? Was it to break up the purple and give the eye a different point of focus? Is it the unconscious trying to be seen?

There's a book, The Van Gogh Blues which looks at this in much better detail.

Eric Maisel states; "Creators have trouble maintaining meaning," explains Maisel. "Creating is one of the ways they endeavor to maintain meaning. In the act of creation, they lay a veneer of meaning over meaninglessness and sometimes produce work that helps others maintain meaning. This is why creating is such a crucial activity in the life of a creator: It is one of the ways, and often the most important way, that she manages to make life feel meaningful. Not creating is depressing because she is not making meaning when she is not creating."

Using the Crayons format allows this depressive to get the creative side out in a less meaningful way. With two cats any painting I do means that I risk paw prints through the art work. As much as I feel they have more talent then I do it can ruin something I am happy with. Paintings of the uterus as a graveyard in which nothing can grow are not as poignant when they come complete with paw prints.

Prose allows thoughts to form in a way that those closest can see the meaning. It might come out in a shambolic fashion that means it needs a serious edit, but in that moment it allows the heart to bleed. You can hide the truth in prose; if a person reads my poetry and doesn't know me it can be seen as an exploration of pop culture, or another sad Goth trying to express their non existent inner self through the art of angst. To those that understand it can be a cry for help; or it can be a sign that things are on the improve.

Eventually I'll catalogue most of the poetry here. That might take years, but in doing that I hope to better understand my meaning and how it has changed. I also hope to edit and improve stuff written over a twenty seven year period. I've come a distance since writing about magicians as a 4 year old; but the hope that things will get better is still behind the pen. Who knows; one day I might be referred to as a female Ginsberg. Huge hope, but maybe that is what the meaning creative people search for is; hope.