Three more examples of paintings created from "touch drawings" as part of my "Art and Healing" certificate work at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida.
Serene Forest by CB Woodling, c. 2010
For me, "Touch Drawing" allows you to explore and bring out images that represent your inner being, even if you are not totally aware of them. The painting above started out on a day in which back pain was an underlying nag at my being...but I hadn't focused on the pain until I created this painting, which initially resembled a spinal column with "hot" red spots of pain. I recall doing the painting in almost a massage kind of movement, with both hands almost rubbing away the pain in that spinal column. I took that image of hot, searing pain, however, and explored it further to find something cooler and more serene, and found a herd of elk wandering in the "Serene Forest" by a frozen lake on a cool winter day. What a cool relief!
GROWTH by CB Woodling, c. 2010
This touch drawing above has become a core symbol to me. It is a reminder to take the every day pressures which seem to be dragging you down to your very roots, and use them in a very positive way. Instead of letting the pressure push you into reaction or anger, use it to stimulate ideas of new and beautiful things, pushing you up into the light, bursting forth into a unique, strong tree with new growth.
Birds and Fishes by CB Woodling, c. 2010
I live in a sub-tropical environment and still marvel at the bright colors in tropical foliage and life. This touch drawing starting without any color, just black and white shapes on tissue. But even then, the presence of birds of paradise flowers and colorful fish were calling to me.
