Creativity can help you get through crazy times....

​(Here's part of the email I sent to my students on 2-11-2021.)

Well, it’s been quite a week, hasn’t it? Perhaps you, like me, have been watching the impeachment trial.  That made it hard for me to make art, at first, because I wanted to watch and listen, and not get focused on something else. But after the first day, I felt horrified, depressed, and exhausted, and needed to do something. So the next day I wound up doodling with colored markers, making a kind of semi-distracted pattern of shapes and hearts, which helped me feel a little less of the above, if possible, as I watched the trial.

Screenshot of a demonstration video I made for class, on drawing faces. • © Karen Lynn Ingalls

At the end of the day today, though, I was soooo ready to make art! Finally! I started working on drawings for the demonstration video(s) for class — we’ve been looking at drawing, which is such an important foundation for painting — and it felt like a longed-for release. 

By the way, here’s what it looks like when I’m putting together a demonstration video, if you were wondering what it looks like behind-the-scenes. The one above is from one about drawing faces. The one below is a little sample from the demo video I put together about a helpful approach to drawing the mouth.  It’s a short video, with the video sequences put in time lapse (that what the tiny rabbit icon you might be able to see down below represents).

Screenshot of a demonstration video I made for class on a helpful way to draw the mouth. • © Karen Lynn Ingalls

One of the nice things about having class online is that, because of the time lapse option for the videos, it doesn’t take as long for you to watch a demonstration, and you get an unobstructed view. There actually are some good things about this way of working… who knew? (It’s always good to look on the bright side!)

I wish you lots of creative mark-making of whatever kind works for you right now. Whether it's painting, drawing, writing, doodling, making videos, or whatever you feel called to do — it's all a part of exercising your creative muscles. And creativity, in all its forms, is a wonderful way to get through challenging times.