Faces are one of the hardest things to draw and there are so many different expressions, messages, signals, things being said by them.
They are amazing things, that say so much about you to others. You can tell happiness or not, kindness or not, warmth or not, so many emotions, or lack of them, can be seen from a person’s face.
It is the world’s window into us.
How often do you think about the face you have put on and what message it sends? Or thinking deeper, what is going on behind the face, that projects whatever representation of us to the world via it.
We often have expressions out of habit and are unaware how others see us.
Maybe you could change something that puts a different look on your face, sends a different impression of ourselves.
What does your face say about you? Take a look in the mirror or ask others what your face is saying.
‘It is not defined by medium or the means of its production, but by a collective sense that it belongs to a category of experience we have come to know as “art”‘ by Kit White from her lovely book ‘101 Things to Learn in Art School’.
Art is so overlooked as a way of being more creative in any field. Just by putting your ideas, plans, vision in a visual form your brain is working on that idea as you are drawing or painting it or illustrating it any way you like.
The most shaming, draining killer of our self-confidence as adults comes from our school days in art. According to Brene Brown’s research, 85% of adults had a shaming experience from school that still affects them in life now and most of that was from art.
Yet art if approached in a non-judgemental way and in a safe environment, can be a real confidence booster and can be great for team building and collaboration. Like all things you get better with practice, but anyone can draw, can do art.
The great thing about art, it’s really therapeutic and social. We launched our Art Club today at my coworking space and as we did our art, we chatted and got to know each other. These are the things in life that matter, after all, we will never say at the end of our journeys ‘I wish I had worked more’.
The final thing, if you want to stand out in a crowded world, bring art to your work and that can be in many forms. Instead of a PowerPoint deck of slides, create your own slides. Instead of a thank-you email send your customer a hand painted thank-you postcard. Instead of a stock photo for a piece of content create your own image by drawing or painting etc.
Work can be a job or it can be a work of art, the choice is ours.
Today’s image for my blog was a poster I created for our Working Out Loud circle during the Art Club.
Philip Dodson 