Category: Mental Health

Posts in this aws Studios.art category include mental health skill building, social emotional learning / SEL, and information about resources for parents, teachers, counselors and therapists.

Reframe It!™: A Game for Parents Looking to Solve Behavior Problems

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Reframe It!™ game reduces anxiety and boosts social emotional mental health!

Reframing is a social-emotional mental health tool or strategy that helps to understand the function of human behavior. The American Psychology Association defines reframing as “a process of reconceptualizing a problem by seeing it from a different perspective.” This, then, creates possibilities for parents and others to solve child problem behaviors. Reframing shows how to foresee behavior and bypass it while building empathy and reducing anxiety.

As a parent, I loved learning about reframing. It showed me ways to try to get to the source of my child’s behavior problems. I was able to predict what might happen and diffuse their triggers.  It also helped me improve relationships with family members and friends. Reframing showed me how by to see behaviors from another’s perspective.  I enjoyed learning and teaching reframing so much that I developed “Reframe It!™,”* a game that teaches reframing. It shows a way to see why children or adults behave the way they do. The games also helps to build compassion for others and ourselves.

Reframe It!™ is a fun game!

“Reframe It!™” is a game for parents and others who are parenting to help them understand child behavior and behavior problems. The game can also help parents understand their own behavior, building self-compassion.  With reframing, we gain an understanding of “the function of behavior,” or why people – children and adults – do what they do.

An aws Studios.art cartoon illustration showing a bunch of celery reframing two onions with behavior problems

Reframe It!™ offers players:

  • A chance to think about ways to modify their reactions to challenging or problem behaviors
  • Ways to predict difficult behaviors and then
  • Make changes to the environment or situation to bypass potential problems.
  • For example:

A parent learns that sibling conflicts often arise from children seeking attention or they are bored or jealous. The parent sees the connection and plans ahead to give each child positive attention regularly. Or they change the environment by helping the child engage in a personally stimulating activity.

Reframe It!™ objectives include helping parents:

  • Learn about reframing.
  • Learn how to reframe behaviors to understand the function of behavior.
  • Begin a practice of reframing to help plan for and modify behavior/reactions and the environment.
  • Build empathy.
  • Build an understanding of personal behavior and “why we do what we do.”
  • Enter into discussions about behavior, stress, family roles, tasks, conflict or anger management, etc.
  • Increase comfort in communicating with each other.
  • Improve parent-child communication.

More about reframing here, here and here!

Click here to purchase Reframe It!, a downloadable pdf for $12.00

* Reframe It!™ is a trademark of aws Studios and was developed using the child and parent behavior reframes in Intervening with troubled families: Functional family therapy and Parenting Wisely. D.A. Gordon, author. 2003.

A Picture Book with Help for the Fearful and Anxious!

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My picture book “Adventures with phearnik!™” helps people with their fear and anxiety and thanks to Anna David at Legacy Launch Pad, I am using her Elevator Pitch Template for a pitch of the book. So, here it goes. See what you think!

PITCH:

My picture book, “Adventures with phearnik!,” is for fearful and anxious children and adults who yearn to be free of their fear so they can join in, have fun, and get things done that they want or need to do!

So, what do you think? Would you be interested in this book? Let me know in Comments! Or you can contact me here or pre-order the book here!

A Mental Health Toolbox for Social and Emotional Health and Well-being

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Even if you are at risk for mental illness, you can maintain your social and emotional well-being by learning and practicing mental health skills.

At the 2022 Mental Health America conference last week, “Forward Together – Recovery, Healing, Hope,” Kristen Harootunian, a young adult from Minding Your Mind, told a powerful and hopeful “story” titled, “Changing Minds: Stories Over Stigma.” Kristen related her experience with health, mental illness, substance abuse, and her subsequent recovery.

Mental Health Toolbox

  • First, young people should connect with 1-3 trusted adults. They could be parents, teachers, counselors, clergy, family members, or friends.
  • “Letting people in and meeting help halfway”:  Kristen talked about how she thought she had to do things on her own and was alone in her struggles. When she opened up to her friends, she wasn’t expecting their support. Instead, they listened and gave her love and compassion. In therapy, Kristen found she wasn’t alone – that many young people deal with struggles similar to hers. Getting help with her emotional health or “letting people in” was what she needed to survive.
A grumpy onion. He could use a toolbox!

Five positive coping skills

  • Kristen’s five positive coping skills:
    • Exercise,
    • Walking,
    • Reading,
    • Connecting with family and friends
    • Journaling: When asked how she was doing, Kristen usually responded with, “I’m fine.” But actually, she was hiding or masking her true feelings. Writing or journaling helped her express her feelings, including guilt (of her mother’s death), shame, substance abuse, pressure, isolation, emptiness, trauma, anxiety, sadness, guardedness, grief, and tiredness. Getting these feelings down on paper helped her work through them and, for the most part, out of them.
Looks like a trusted bunch of celery?

How about you?

Creating a toolbox of mental health skills isn’t difficult. It’s easy and can be a fun use of time. How about you? Do you have a toolbox of skills to help you maintain your mental health? Are they like the tools in Kristen’s box, or are they different? I would love to hear about what’s in your toolbox in the Comments section below!

Thanks for tuning in, and feel free to share this post to help boost mental health skill-building everywhere!

“Square breathing or box breathing,” a technique to help calm our bodies and brains down when starting to feel anxious:  4 beats inhale, 4 beats hold, 4 beats exhale, 4 beats hold, and repeat.

Kristen says these tools help her maintain her recovery, but, as she alludes in her presentation, they would have been helpful to know at an early age to provide strategies to protect against mental illness. 

Chill Kits! Helping kids and adults develop mental health / social emotional skills

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Have Fun while Boosting Mental Health

aws Studios is all about helping kids and adults build mental health skills (often referred to as social emotional learning [SEL] or skills)! This past Saturday, at the Golisano Children’s Hospital Run and Stroll fundraiser in Rochester, NY, I picked up the University of Rochester Medicine’s Pediatric Behavioral Health and Wellness “Coping Kit.”  It was full of excellent mental health skill-building resources meant for kids, but adults can use these kits too or get ideas of what they would want or need in their kits. They are guaranteed to add fun and easy ways to build your mental health.

(I like “Chill Kits” instead of “Coping.”  I think “Chill” is a little more fun and not as “heavy” as “Coping.”  Heaven knows, we need to make mental health skill-building as fun as possible!)

Coping or Chill Kit contents:

  • A cute, small vial of bubbles and a “Bubble Breathing” handout teaching the skill of deep, slow breathing to help us calm down when feeling upset using the bubbles.
  • A colorful handout of fun and easy yoga poses for kids from “Kids Yoga Stories.”
  • Another handout explaining the four (4) benefits of physical activity for kids’ mental health or “emotional wellness”:  1) Exercise fights depression; 2) Decreases stress; 3) Increases self-confidence; and can 4) Improve sleep. Who doesn’t need all of this?! So, to help kids get out there and move, the kit also included:
    • A fun, colorful jump rope
    • A Stress ball
    • A Mini plastic frisbee and a foldable fabric frisbee (or cooling fan)
  • And some sports stickers to top it all off.

Thanks to UR Medicine

Thank you to the UR Medicine’s Pediatric Behavioral Health and Wellness department and their “Coping” or “Chill Kit”! I made my granddaughter get her own! I wanted mine all to myself!

Easy DIY Kit

Everyone needs a “Chill Kit”! Do you have one? You could make your own. What would you put in yours? (I was thinking for adults, crayons and a coloring book!) Tell me what you think in Comments below!

Do you like what you are reading? Do you think someone you know could benefit from this post? Help me spread the word about boosting mental health skills!

Back To Basics: Practical Mental Health Information

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aws Studios is proud to celebrate May as Mental Health Month! The following is an article from Mental Health America:

Mental Health Awareness

Since the start of the pandemic, more people are talking about mental health. An increasing number of folks are starting to see it for what it is: one important component of your overall health and well-being, just like your physical health. But mental health conditions, resources, and conversations can still feel complicated and out of reach.

An image of an applique of hikers resting and viewing the distant mountain landscape signifying the importance of self-care, rest and relaxation for mental health.

Be Informed


Are there common warning signs for mental health conditions or crises? Specific factors that can lead to mental health conditions or even crises? What resources are out there – and how do I know if they’re right for me?

another image signifying the importance of rest and relaxation with an abstract collage of a beach scene with sand, waves, beach chairs and umbrellas.

Many people are learning about mental health topics for the first time. Having a widespread understanding of the topic can help you be more informed if you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health condition or crisis. Around half of people in the U.S. will meet the criteria for a diagnosable mental health condition at some point in their life, so everyone should know what to look out for.

Everyone should have the support needed to thrive. Communities that have been historically and presently oppressed face a deeper mental health burden because of the added impact of trauma, oppression, and harm. There’s often no one single cause for a mental health condition. Instead, there are many possible risk factors that can influence how likely a person is to experience a mental health condition or how serious the symptoms may be.

Know the Risk Factors


Some risk factors for mental health conditions include: trauma, which can be a one-time event or ongoing; your environment and how it impacts your health and quality of life (also known as social determinants of health like financial stability and health care access); genetics; brain chemistry; and your habits and lifestyle such as a lack of sleep.

An image of pool water signifying importance of bringing calm and beauty into our lives for better mental health.

Questions to ask yourself

Of course, understanding the risk factors for a mental health condition can be more difficult when it’s your own mental health. Take time to ask yourself about your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to see if this is part of a pattern that may be caused by a mental health condition. Here are some questions to get you started:


• Have things that used to feel easy started feeling difficult?
• Does the idea of doing daily tasks like making your bed now feel really, really hard?
• Have you lost interest in activities and hobbies you used to enjoy?
• Do you feel irritated, possibly to the point of lashing out at people you care about?

Our society focuses much more on physical health than mental health, but both are equally important. If you are concerned about your mental health, there are several options available. You are not alone – help is out there, and recovery is possible. It may be hard to talk about your concerns, but simply acknowledging to yourself that you’re struggling is a really big step.

Mental Health Awareness Resources


Taking a screen at mhascreening.org can help you to better understand what you are experiencing and get helpful resources. After that, consider talking to someone you trust about your results, and seek out a professional to find the support you need.

While you may not need this information today, knowing the basics about mental health will mean you’re prepared if you ever need it. Go to mhanational.org/may to learn more.

Parent Sharing and How to Get Your Toddler to Behave!

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I am writing about parenting because it’s my hope that parents will find my to-be-published book “Adventures with phearnik!™” useful. Find out more about the book here. 

This post is about how I first got into mental health education as a parenting educator.  I got into parenting education because I wanted/needed my toddler to behave! 

Parenting struggles and parenting classes

I loved/love parenting education.  I was introduced to it as a participant in a parenting class.  Like I said, I was having a tough time and getting frustrated with my toddler’s behavior.  And I was stymied.  I was a high school and college graduate and I still didn’t have the answers for what to do. 

I asked my mother for help and she said, “Oh, I never had that problem.  You were so good.” It was obvious to me my mother didn’t remember hitting me with the yardstick when I misbehaved as a toddler!  And because of that experience, I wasn’t going to resort to using it with my children.  My mother wasn’t going to be any help.

A humorous illustration of the "old woman and the shoe" depicting parenting a lot of children.

I mentioned my frustrations to my health care provider.  She suggested I enroll in our HMO’s parenting class.  I was hesitant.  Weren’t parenting classes for parents involved with child protective services? Parents who were abusing their kids and had them taken away?  That wasn’t me.  I was just getting a little frustrated.  I ended up going, albeit begrudgingly, and feeling embarrassed.  And once there, I was so glad I went!  I came to love the class.  (By the way, of about 15 participants in the class, only one parent was mandated to go.)

Taught by HMO staff, the class used the “Systematic Training for Effective Parenting” program (Dinkmeyer and McKay). These techniques were found effective in raising socially and emotionally healthy children.  I loved the strategies and learning to direct my child’s behavior with love and understanding and calmer.  I loved it so much that I just had to spread the word.  This is me.  I am an educator through and through.  When I learn or find out about something that I get excited about, I want to share it.  So, I set out to be a parenting educator.

More Useful Parenting Information

Soon after I completed the STEP classes, another opportunity arose. A short course on conflict resolution came to town.  I like the term “conflict management” better as conflict cannot always be resolved. Something we learned in the course.  I sought out conflict resolution (management). Even though I struggled with my toddler’s behavior at times, my husband and I engaged in some arguments too.  (Makes one wonder how much that was contributing to the toddler’s behavior, right?) Anyways, I went to the conflict classes and loved what I learned there too! 

Right after that, I signed up to become a trainer of the EPIC parenting education program.  EPIC stands for “Every Person Influences Children” developed by Bob Wilson from Buffalo, NY.  A keen, visionary mom in our town was frustrated by the high rate of unintended teen pregnancies.  She believed in addressing the problem. Her strategy included providing parents in the community with a parenting program. The mom thought it could be an effective preventative strategy to help bring the rate down.  Along with some other moms, I traveled to Buffalo and received the  training and became an EPIC trainer.  We then came back home and started training parent groups. 

I trained the EPIC program for a little while but I felt that it wasn’t enough.  It was my belief that the parenting classes could use some of what I learned in the STEP program. In addition, it definitely needed pretty much everything I learned in the conflict resolution classes!  So, I developed my own parenting education course. 

I took a little bit from EPIC and a little bit from STEP and used most of the information from the conflict resolution classes.   I started teaching my curriculum at the NY State Education Dept. Board of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES) Adult Education Program in Syracuse, NY.  And guess what?  Yep, you got it!  I loved teaching that parenting education curriculum!  I especially loved getting parents together.  Parents who like me had some struggle with parenting their children and were hungry for some help, some answers. 

Parent-to-Parent, the Best Parenting Education

We had so much fun in those classes!  It was great to be able to facilitate their sharing of issues but, most importantly, the ideas and strategies that worked for them.  They may have been having an issue in one area of parenting but in other areas, they had great ideas for the other parents.  This was one of the things that I particularly liked in the STEP classes, when a parent would say, “Oh, that?  I don’t have an issue with that because this is what I have done when that happens….”  The parent sharing was the best.  Through my years as an educator and trainer, my colleagues and I would always agree that one of our most important teaching strategies was to facilitate the sharing of ideas from the students or participants to one another.

Commenting on blogs is a terrific way for readers to share their stories and what’s worked for them when it comes to parenting children.  What about you?  Have you ever participated in a parenting class?   Which one?  Did you like it?  Why or why not?  Do you have a child rearing tip or strategy that works/worked well for you that you’d like to share?  I would love to hear about it in the Comments/Reply section below and, as always, thank you for reading! 

Looking for resources?  Check out the National Parenting Education Network (NPEN), a national organization that promotes the field of parenting education and encourages information sharing, professional development and networking opportunities for individuals who educate and support parents.

Another Why “There’s a Mental Health Crisis Among American Children”

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Something’s Missing

In the NY Times article, “There’s a Mental Health Crisis Among American Children.  Why?: And the pandemic is not the only reason,” I noticed a missing “why”, a big one.

Tingley lists many reasons why we have a mental health crisis in this country. These include issues with data collection, the ability for more children to receive adequate and early mental health care. She also points out how the pandemic has added to  the crisis. But, she adds “rising numbers” of children and youth with mental illness was happening before Covid19. Less than 15% of these youth received treatment. 

A Lack of Mental Health Education

A picture showing to little girls hugging to emphasize the need for more mental health education.

As a mental health educator, the “why” there’s a mental health crisis in the US that I see missing is the lack of mental health education.  The NYT article and others about the state of mental health in the US usually  emphasize the issue of accessing treatment as the number one reason.  But treatment for mental illnesses is a “downstream” strategy, a way to administer to those who are ill.  They are often emergency life-saving measures.  On the other hand, mental health education is an “upstream” strategy.  Its purpose to arm individuals with the things they need to know and do to maintain mental health and prevent mental illnesses and the need for treatment as much as possible. 

Making Mental Health Skill Building Fun and Easy

Because of the lack of mental health education, states like New York and California have made or are making it a law. These laws work to ensure mental health education happens in schools.  It’s too bad we need laws to make mental health education take place.  Teaching and learning the skills of mental health isn’t hard.  And it can be fun!  In my last post, I talked about learning the social and emotional skill of acknowledging fear. Embracing a “little fear” helps us move beyond anxiety to a place of thriving.  For all healthy skills, it helps to understand why we need the skill and why it works.  To learn the skill of acknowledging fear, it helps to understand how our brains work when we’re experiencing it. 

Fear is a powerful emotion.  In its basic form, it keeps us safe.  And in our early human development, tuning into fear was essential for survival.  The thing is, even now hundreds of thousands of years later, fear still wants to react in its primal way.  A lot of fear we experience isn’t a life-or-death. Because of this,  we need to embody the skill of calming our primal brain areas down and tune into the areas that provide a more modern, logical and practical  approach.

I like how Dr. Steve Peters explains this in a simplified and fun way. Helping to clarify the complexity of brain science, Peters breaks it down. He conveys how our “emotional thinking machine” “The Chimp” needs to placate “The Human,” the area of thinking and planning. Says Peters, “You are not responsible for the nature of the dog but you are responsible for managing it, keeping it well behaved.”  Just as “you are not responsible for the nature of your Chimp but you are responsible for managing it.” And that’s a mental health skill! 

So, yes, we may be in a mental health crisis. But we don’t need to wait for laws and our schools to put a dent in that crisis. Mental health education can be provided now.  As parents and adults, we can help build the skills of mental health in our children. And, more importantly, for ourselves – in fun and engaging ways.  That’s what my picture book, “Adventures with phearnik!™”  is all about.  It’s a fun way to learn how to keep your social relationships and emotions healthy! 

What about you?  Could you use a fun way to help your child not be so fearful or anxious?  Could you yourself use the same!?  “Adventures with phearnik!™” can help! 

Art, Artists, Anxiety and Overcoming Fear of the Blank Canvas

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New Way to Handle Fear

Image shows a collage illustration of a man sitting in front of his easel looking unsure of what to paint like he can't start his painting.

My picture book, “Phobe and phearnik! Fight BIG Fears,” is a story about a way for children (and adults!) to deal with fear and anxiety.  Compared to how fear presents in other children’s books, my book introduces a new and, may I be so bold to say – revolutionary – way to handle fear.

As an artist, I suffer from what’s called “blank canvas syndrome.”  It’s like “fear of the blank page” that some writers experience or stage fright that actors might encounter. 

Artists + Fear

We fearful artists have the expertise to do our jobs. At least we have enough to produce a piece of (art) work. But fear holds us back from tackling  the canvas, page or stage.  While experiencing this, I feared the outcome.  Would my picture come out as I envisioned it?  I feared my work would be judged by others negatively. When the artist accepts the outcome of their work, they more readily dismiss negative judgements. They then see it as a mismatch between the art and viewer.

Building Confidence

Having these fears mainly shows a lack of confidence. Confidence comes from artists doing a large amount  of work. With this comes the faith that the outcome won’t be so bad. Granted, not all art outcomes are accepted, even by the confident artist.  Doing scores of work – making lots of paintings – might become garbage. I wonder how many artists out there have a fear of wasting materials like me?!  I am a child of parents who grew up during the depression.  People like us don’t waste things!  We eat everything on our plates!  We use and reuse things repeatedly and rarely buy new!  Cheap artists like me want the work to come out the way we wanted it to the first time. Or else we’re wasting materials!  Yes, sad but true.

Studying Fear

For years, I “studied” what I could do about my fear of the blank canvas.  I read books like “Art and Fear”, “Affirmations for Artists” and “The Artist’s Way” and kept them for reference.  But none of these helped me break through my fears until I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic: Creative living beyond fear.” 

Take Fear with You

In the book, Gilbert offers a new way for artists to deal with/confront their fears in a now, well-known vignette titled, “The Road Trip.”  In it, Gilbert suggests artists accept and acknowledge their fears instead of trying to ignore it or get over it or, somehow, get rid of it.  She uses the metaphor of taking a road trip as a lesson in acknowledging fear.  On the trip, you bring your fear with you but it must sit in the backseat and it doesn’t get to control anything.  It doesn’t get to drive and it definitely doesn’t get to control the radio!

An illustration of a seated woman with a very frightened look on her face but you don't see what is frightening her.

Revolutionary Strategy

This idea of acknowledging fear but not letting it take control was, for me, revolutionary.  It makes so much sense.  Fear is one of our most powerful emotions.  It’s part of us.  It cannot be willed away.  It’s always there but we can learn to control it.  And, as a mental/social and emotional health educator, I know that’s a skill.  Having an understanding about a health topic and learning the skills is how we are healthy.

A picture of the "Phoebe and phearnik! Fight BIG Fears" a picture book that helps kids reduce their fear and anxiety.
Book cover

Picture Book Explains Strategy

In “Phobe and phearnik! Fight BIG Fears,” I’ve created a picture book using Gilbert’s idea. I take it one step further. I help kids and adults learn the skill of acknowledging fear. In addition, I want them to not let it take control of the things they want to try or need to do.  It’s worked for me and I bet it can work for you too!

How about you?  Are you an artist that has experienced fear of the blank canvas or page?  Or maybe even fear of wasting material!?  Or maybe you are someone who would like to of make art but is afraid of what people would say about it ?  I would love to hear about it in the “Leave a Reply/Comment”.   

And, if you’d like to  be one of the first to get a copy of the “Phobe and phearnik! Fight BIG Fears,” picture book, click on the picture to place your pre-order! After your info, type “Pre-order” in the box!

A picture of the "Phoebe and phearnik! Fight BIG Fears" a picture book that helps kids reduce their fear and anxiety.

Social and Emotional Health Education Teaching Strategies Engage Students with Art

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A Writer and an Artist

I am a Gemini.  Born between May 21 and June 21. I have always thought the Gemini symbol of The Twins defined me well. The two distinct personalities or personas speak clearly to my being an artist and a writer.  Most of my posts to this point have been about my art.  It’s time for me to blog about my writing, in particular, my social and emotional health teaching strategies.

Parenting Education

Two little girls hugging

I started developing educational curricula and teaching strategies as a Parenting Educator.  For many years, I provided programming for parents including single moms and single parents and other caregivers.  As a new mom, I participated in the  “Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP)” program presented by my health care provider and a series on conflict resolution presented by the New Justice Conflict Resolution Services in Syracuse, NY. 

Then, I became a trainer. This was for the “Every Person Influences Children (EPIC)” parenting education program.  Taking parts from all three of these programs, I created and taught a parenting education program. I then taught it for the NYS Board of Cooperative Education Services’ (BOCES) Adult program. 

I loved parenting education, sharing what I had learned and helping other parents.  This work extended into programming I did for in-home day care providers enrolled in the Onondaga County Day Care “Magic Bus” program.    Implementing literary and culinary arts into this curriculum provided fun and engaging activities for both the children and the care providers.

Mental Health Education

After receiving a Masters in Health Education, my curriculum development continued to focus on mental health, providing social and emotional learning (SEL) teaching strategies for K-12 teachers, parents, youth workers, foster care caseworkers and foster parents. 

A illustration of an old woman and the shoe with lots of kids living in the shoe.
A picture of the cover of Final Episode a communication skills resource for high school students.

Award Winning Curriculum

After receiving a Masters in Health Education, my curriculum development continued to focus on mental health, providing social and emotional learning (SEL) teaching strategies for K-12 teachers, parents, youth workers, foster care caseworkers and foster parents. 

During this time,  the NYS Department of Education hired me as an External Consultant to assist in  developing a high school/”commencement level” parenting education curriculum guide.  For the guide, I created, “Final Episode™: Resolving family conflicts with communication,” a commencement level learning experience.

I was thrilled when this curriculum met the State’s ‘Academy for Teaching and Learning” requuirements. With an intense peer-review process, the Academy seeks to award well designed K-12 curricula.

“Final Episode™” incorporated many different art disciplines. These include theatre/drama arts and a “Document Based Questionnaire.” A DBQ engages student learning using paintings, comics and other graphic artwork. This leads students on an entertaining, self-directed journey to learn about how to communicate in safe and healthy ways. 

“Final Episode™” and my other curricula illustrate how my art connects with my mental health curriculum.  Perfect examples of my “gemininess!”  

If you would like to receive an outline of the Final episode curriculum, click here for a free pdf!

Engaging teaching strategies

Overcoming Anxiety During the Pandemic

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sunrise in the preserve

My 2020 and 2021 collages, “Sunrise in the Preserve” and “Sunrise near Bellacina” are currently showing in the Venice (Florida) Art Center’s new “Near and Far” show (running now through February 11, 2022).  The two works together in a series of three (including “Sunrise on the Bay”) tell the story about how creating art during the confines of the covid19 pandemic helped me maintain and, possibly, strengthened my mental – social and emotional – health. 

Isolated in the first many months of the pandemic in 2020, I found solace in my small studio.   The unassuming, demure space provides me with plenty – the secure comfort I desire for my creating.  Ever since I was a little kid, I have always enjoyed the confines of small, big-enough-for-only-me spaces.  The enclosed spandrel (the space underneath the stairs leading up to the second floor of our house) was my indoor playhouse.   Every morning after breakfast, I couldn’t wait to play under the stairs with my dolls, in my own private, cozy representation of my family’s kitchen, complete with a 1950’s toddler sized white metal kitchen sink, stove and refrigerator.  It was the safe sanctuary that my natural introversion craved.

Like the enclosed spandrel, my two, small, big-enough-for-only-me studio spaces (one in upstate NY and the other in Venice, Florida) provide me with the safe and secure calm I desire for my creative focus.  In this soothing space, I  relax and, along with my collage practice, destress.  It was in my Venice studio where I “got through” the early pandemic months (and the later ones too) with peace and relaxation. 

sunrise near Bellacina

Creating collage – the cutting and securing paper or fabric to a ridged surface – helps me manage my mental wellbeing.  Scissors and X-Acto knives (slim, small knives with similarly slim razor blades for cutting my materials) are, for me, therapeutic.  The concentration and attention required to accurately slice fabric or paper flows through my body. It calms my arms, hands and fingers down into a focused peacefulness.  Again, the concentrated practice allows me to exhale my stress and tension.

sunrise on the bay

Collage also satisfies my desire for a challenge. It provides me another way to take care of my mental health.  Stimulating our brain with challenges and problem solving helps to improve our  mindset. This helps to make us feel more positive about the future.  It helps to build confidence and gives us something to focus on. Problem solving takes our minds off the things that cause anxiety.  Creating a picture that represents a story with Impressionistic-like simplicity is my challenge and goal.  But the pandemic in early 2020, created an additional challenge. The challenge of trying to find materials needed for my collaging (remember, at first, stores closed completely)! 

my work desk in my demure studio!

One of the reasons I made pictures of a sunrise was because the only ridged surface I had at the time to build my collages on was a piece of florescent orange cardboard leftover from another project (I totally can’t remember what that was)!  The bright orange became the  perfect background to represent the dramatic streaks and peaks of the morning’s rising sunlight.  Another challenge was obtaining colored paper to cut and collage the sky and foreground.  Again, the only thing I had on hand were magazines.  Even though magazines are not the best choice when considering a picture’s longevity and its archivalness,  the “Venice Magazine” about Gulf Coast living,  provided me with a broad selection of colors; the heavier cover paper becoming my favorite choice to weave into my sunrise representations.

Many artists relate their practice to helping them with strengthen their mental health. During the scariest early days and months of the pandemic, my “art saved me” (as it often does).  It provided me a way to escape from the worries of what the virus.  My secure and safe studio gave me focus. It illuminated a silver lining to my isolation – that of creating three related collages.  Even the show’s opening night helped me grow my social health. My husband and I met another artist and his wife who also live in Venice.   The four of us closed the reception down. We were the last to leave. We enjoyed a conversation of getting to know each other, exchanging numbers and promises to get together again.

How about you?  Did/do you find solace  during the pandemic creating art and or crafts?  How does art or craft making affect your mental health?  Have you noticed ways art helps to strengthen your social and emotional health? I would love to hear from you in the “Leave a Reply” below.