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Category: Art Therapy

I want to teach!

I want to teach!

Reasons to learn to draw and/or paint

  1. I want to help others find out that they can create things that give them delight and purpose. Learning to do some art has so many benefits. The process of learning to draw can help you develop better decision making skills. Betty Edwards, who founded the course called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain talked about that in her book of the same title. Its so true.
  2. Viktor E. Frankl wrote a book called Man’s Search For Meaning and it has sold more than fifteen million copies worldwide. That’s 15 MILLION. He survived life in a World War II concentration camp. He writes that those, in the camp, who had a purpose/meaning, survived. Purpose they wanted to see a loved one or maybe they had been working on a book before being captured and they wanted to finish it. No matter what the purpose, it was something that kept them from giving up. Having a purpose helps all of us keep going.
  3. Learning is good for you. You’re never too old to learn something new. It can make you feel young.
  4. Taking a class to learn some type of art gets you out around other people who are also wanting to learn how to do something creative. You’re like-minded. You’ve found your own kind!
  5. Learning to do art or even how to write can open your eyes to the world around you in a way you never experienced before. Our world is the ultimate painting. The ultimate sculpture. The ultimate story. Making art yourself, puts you right into that story.
  6. Finally, if you don’t give up too soon, you’ll gain a better feeling about yourself and you’ll feel better in general.

TRY IT!

Me First

Me First

Now that my life is pretty much as simple as it can be, its time to be creative in new ways. I want to create things just because I want to. Here I go. I’m going to make short videos on how to do things. This is a good place to start – tangling.

Basic Tangle – YOU CAN DO IT!

The above steps are where I started, but I found it so relaxing that I wanted to create more and more. One day I wanted to take it further and that’s how I came to tangle a honey bee.

My bee has stories within it. Can you find them?

In the next video, I will take you from your first tangle to a story-tangle, like my honey bee. While you wait, please search for something you want to create. You’ll need to make an outline that only has the barest details. In the honey bee, I outlined the two wings, the basic body shape, the legs and the antennae. See what subject you can outline in prep for the next how-to video.

Lost Voice

Lost Voice

…If found, please return to Ren

I’m a story teller. Memory keeper. I’m Ren on Paper. Words. Images. I’ve experienced so much life. Good and bad. It would serve no purpose to talk about the bads. I will, however, talk about the goods.

I got to fly a T37 jet once. Went on survival training in the Everglades. Flew in helicopters a couple times. Went scuba diving and zip lining in Japan. Took a glass blowing class there. Spent three months in Hawaii and had my breath taken away by the beaches, mountains, birds, fish, and flowers. Made award winning videos. Wrote a movie script for my community once. Directed a small theater group for a few years. Built two log homes and learned how to use just about every power tool ever made. Been on the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge. Experienced such great kindness shown to me that it made me weep and feel so very humble. Had three beautiful, amazing children who turned into beautiful, amazing adults, moms and dads themselves. I lived in a fifth wheel RV for over two years and never went anywhere in it. I’ve spent years living and traveling in an Airstream, Winnebago motor home, and now a travel trailer. I know what the Grand Canyon looks like at sunrise, sunset, and from the bottom looking up.

Two years ago this week, something happened to me that caused me to put creativity aside and concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. It feels as though I lost my voice. Art and writing have been my voice since I was ten years old.

This was my very first painting. I was twelve or thirteen years old

The stories and drawings helped me cope with long years of difficulty and built in me a strong resilience. This week, in celebration of overcoming all that has come before, I claim my life and my voice. Its a mere whisper, but I’m confident that, if I’m diligent, that whisper will become a full song, verse, or masterpiece. I can’t wait to see what form it takes!

Ren On Paper began as a place only for myself. A place to think out loud. However, if you have found your way here, I hope you have found something that might make you return from time to time. Perhaps a sentence will strike a chord with you. Maybe some little sketch will make you smile. I don’t know. I’m just glad you’re here. Thank you.

In memory of my very own Einstein