Final blog-art therapy session

Snufkin is a friend of mine and has been in the United States for three years. She is a lover of animals and has two guinea pigs and regards them as her children. I told her about the art therapy session and asked her whether she was willing to participate in. She said yes. Then I explained our final project’s requirements and asked her whether it is ok to write about our art therapy session and post it on our blogger. She agreed.

I reserved a room at our library and invited her to do an art therapy session with me. I offered a set of oil pastels, watercolors, magic clay and a 24 pack of colored pencils along with a few sheets of colored paper. I told her that she could draw what ever she wanted to draw or let me give her a theme. She preferred having a theme. So I utilized the themes that I learned from class then let her pick one from “create an image that expresses feelings, tell a story, depict relationships” or simply “be/play/meditate with the material”. She originally wanted to draw her relationship with her girlfriend; however, she found out that the relationship was too sophisticated to express in one painting. So she ended up drawing her feelings about her life in the United States.

Before starting the session, she asked me about the time limit and whether she could draw with her new hat on. I said, “there is no strict time limit. Although the painting is supposed to be finished in 30 minutes, she can go over a little bit. As for hat, you can do what ever you want to make you feel comfortable when you draw.” I found her request about wearing a hat was interesting and wondered why she wanted to wear a hat. So I asked her why after ending the session. She told me that the hat was so soft, warm and made her relax and comfortable. The hat also reminded her of her guinea pigs, and she always put her two guinea pigs on her legs when she is working at home. It is a habit for her. So her hat acted as substitute for her guinea pigs.

Snufkin used color pencils, then switched to oil pastel later and chose oil pastel as her main medium. She told me that the colors of color pencils were too light and would waste her a lot of time drawing a picture. “ Using oil pastel can be quicker and easier,” she said. She began her painting by drawing a bean-shaped circle in the center of the paper. Later, she started drawing its inside. After that she added shells and lines. She drew red ones first, then pink and green ones. She finished the picture in 7 minutes, which is fast. I was surprised at her speed. 

Like what we did in our class, when she was finished, I asked her feelings toward the session. She told me that she felt so nervous at the beginning and had no idea what to draw. She also felt a little bit awkward when I was watching her drawing.  However, she felt less nervous and relaxed after focusing on drawing process.

Since I had no idea what feelings that her painting expressed, I asked Snufkin to explain her painting to me. She told, “It is a core and can be interpreted as myself. The black shell is my self-defense or self-protection mechanism and can protect me from getting hurt. The purple was my favorite color when I was a kid. It is innocent and childish part of myself, which is something that I cherish and want to keep” Her painting was so symbolic. I noticed the blue shell and I asked her “How about that blue shell, is it another self-protection?” She said, “ oh, no. It’s not my shell. Instead, it’s my blue jacket and you know that blue jacket, I wear it all the time. It has accompanied me for five years and sort of like a friend.” It was so interesting that she combined abstract concept like self-defense and concrete material her blue coat in the same picture.

 Then, we moved on to those lines. I wondered what about those colorful lines?  Snufkin said that they represented limitations or rules. Red lines represented rules that hurt her so much and left scars. She also used pink, which is a color that she dislikes. I brought up the question why she chose pink to draw those lines. She said “Yes, I do not like pink, but pink is my girlfriend’s favorite color. ” I asked her whether those lines represent limitations that come from her girl friend. She said, “Kind of, I have changed a lot after being together with her.” I asked whether she could be more specific and give me more details. Then she started telling me her stories with her girlfriend. Snufkin used to be a smoker and prefer having casual relationships. After moving in together with her girlfriend, she quit smoking and had an exclusive relationship with her girlfriend. In terms of her exclusive relationship, she felt a lot of limitations that she has never felt before when she was in casual relationships. As for the green lines, they were different from red and pink ones. Red and pink lines are parallel lines. However, green lines were cross lines and far from her. I asked her what those green lines represented for. She told that they were general rules or morals; she would be guided or influenced by them.

Snufkin just explained her drawing to me so far and had not mentioned the feelings her art piece expressed. I was curious about what emotions or feelings that her painting tried to convey. She told me that it was quite complicated and subtle. She was wrapped by those so-called rules and limitations, which made her could not breath. They were the feelings about living in the United States. It included everything, her life and relationship.

I appreciated her honest and sharing her feelings with me. In fact, I did not expect that she would share so much with me and thought we would just focused on her paintings and her feelings of her life here. However, she ended up sharing not only her feelings in the United States but also her relationship with her girlfriend. I pointed out that she told me a lot today and asked her if I were not her friend, would she share as much as what she shared with me. She answer was no. Snufkin said that because I was her friend, she trusted me and felt safe to share with me. She did not mind opening up and sharing inner thoughts with me. If I were a stranger or a therapist, she would not feel comfortable sharing.