Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain ~ Carl Jung

Jung was interested in images of dreams and fantasies.  So here’s a fantasy. My other fantasy is that my scanner is not broken, but that was even more boring to draw (though not as boring as photographing pictures and uploading them).

Clearly my fantasies are not so fantastical, here I am looking at the sea, getting a bit of peace… except that it’s where I live – not in the sea, just near it – that’s the fantasy part.

Anyway, after reading about Jung (who, coincidentally, seems to be referenced in a lot of the fiction I have been reading recently) and being a bit stuck for inspiration, I decided to doodle some dream images.  Talking about your dreams is a bit like discussing your aches and pains eg.  more interesting to you than anyone else – I’ll try to bear this in mind.

Jung’s analysis involved working closely with patients to investigate and understand the meaning in the dream-images they created; I take this to mean that he didn’t get too Freudian about everything (‘You dreamed about snakes!? Mwahahaha…’) but rather discussed archetypes and possible connotations based on the patients own thoughts and experiences.   The devil, as it were, is in the detail.

So, here’s a dreamscape in which I was telling off the owners of a tiger and a panther for walking the aforementioned big cats in my local park.  I refused to be placated when they showed me their we’re-allowed-to-walk-big-cats-in-the-park licences.

The panther didn’t have a monkey-face in my dream, I just can’t draw very well.

There are shades of the Jungian archetype The Shadow in those big cats… The dark self on a leash?  Crumbs.  That’s worrying.  However, Jung might have been more interested in the colour of the leash, or the breed of cat or even the ‘licence’ aspect of the dream, depending on the information I gave him.  Since he’s not around to ask I’m going to conclude that my sub-conscious has deep-held concerns about wild carnivorous creatures hanging around in public places.  Which are very sensible concerns to have.

I always sleep in the bath

And now for something completely different…and yet the same.  In this dream I woke up fully dressed in a bathtub as an old friend brought me a cup of tea. There’s a rather nice little plant on the windowsill there too.  Frankly I can’t make head nor tail of that one –  not a clue.  All I know is that I was really disappointed to wake up in actual real life without that cuppa.

I could go on with the dream illustrations and thrilling synopses but I’m going to leave that whole topic there for now.  It seems wise.  But I reckon there’s something cathartic about dream-doodling so I may not quit entirely…

For now though, I’ll leave you with a snarky doodle of PM David Cameron.

…and a finished version of another doodle.

Peace x

Messing around with felt tips – what would Jung say?

messing around with felt tips

So I’ve been doodling a bit, although I have probably spent more time helping the resident youth create some revision posters for her forthcoming exams by illustrating them (or ‘messing about with felt tips’ if you ask the aforementioned yoof).  I’ve developed the traditional half-term sore-throat & sniffle and keep giving up on things in favour of a little nap, which is not conducive to a highly productive week (and my scanner has died so I can’t make decent copies of anything) but I’ve taken a few scrappy shots of some of my doodle-drafts so you know I am at least trying.

Next time use pencil.

Cameron Cartoon draft

Nigel Farage: UFIB

At some point I’ll try to make at least one of them into a finished…thing.

Although the spirit and flesh have been weak over the last week, I have had a closer look at some of the theories behind the concept of art therapy.  Here are some ideas about the ‘function’ of art as therapy wherein the power of art is not only in the creation of the image but the appreciation and interpretation of it  http://www.brainpickings.org/2013/10/25/art-as-therapy-alain-de-botton-john-armstrong/

Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist Carl Jung encouraged his patients to draw their dreams and fantasies, working with the patient to interpret the images as part of their therapeutic journey.  There’s a nice prezi here https://prezi.com/qgcnvlhrcvxr/jungian-analytic-art-therapy/ (which you’ll need to zoom into and pan across to access in full) giving some background and some more ‘intense’ information here.

My dreams are chaotic at best so I’m not sure how I’d feel about drawing them…I’ll probably have a nap and think on it.

Peace x

Challenge 4: Where has my cup gone? And other stuff.

Finally the cups took matters into their own hands and made their own way to the dishwasher.

I had to start (again) somewhere so here are this week’s eclectic (messy) offerings so far.  Behold my theory about where all the cups at work have disappeared to.  Really, they just keep vanishing.  We need, like, Scooby-Doo, man.

Also behold my attempt at a *haiku, inspired by some of this week’s less tasteful mental-health related headlines.

* my daughter pointed out to me that I have the haiku wrong, that it’s 5,7,5 and refused to accept my ‘inverse haiku’ argument.  Considering it’s my job to remember this stuff it’s a bit embarrassing – plus I hate it when she’s right.

So here’s a ‘haiku’ haiku

Keep to the attic 

Dark words ignite bright torches

Flames and pitchforks come

Tadaa! (Hopefully the poetry will improve.  Or stop)

Oh, and a visual representation of how I’ve felt most of this week.

meh

Despite a total lack of motivation to do anything but eat cake and slump, I’ve forced myself to go to the gym twice.  Thanks February challenge *raspberries*.  And since I’ve been over-tired and struggling to sleep, I’ve been listening to these to help me relax –  I may have posted them before, sorry about that if so.  If you can get past the slightly creepy voice this one’s pretty good for getting calm to-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBlWOJgiyGg

And this one’s just cute…if you like rivers and lanterns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpotwRmX654

Personally I prefer Zopiclone for solving sleeping difficulties, but my GP rarely lets me have them *more raspberries* because people become addicted to them – I can’t think why…

Peace x