A few years ago I realized (once again) that I can’t paint. However, I found that I can something different with pen and paper that is very nice, at least for myself: A kind of meditation.
To do that, I simply take a fresh sheet of paper and use a compass, ruler and triangle to draw some kind of base shape. That how it starts, with a snowflake, some circles, an hourglass, … whatever. Usually I derive it from something happening around me, some recent news, something seasonal or some image that I have in my head.
Once I have the base shape, I start decorating it by splitting it into segments and applying different filling styles. These are for the most part quite intricate and require precision and patience. Due to the repetitive nature and the need to concentrate, but without actual mental exertion, it has a similar effect to meditation, which I find very pleasant.
Quite often I actually enjoy the result to some degree. It’s fun to look at, and has a lot of details to explore more closely. This is by no means the primary purpose of the exercise, but a nice bonus anyway.
This page shows some of these results. I can highly recommend painting / drawing / doodling as a measure of mental relaxation, which is urgently needed in our current times.
