For online book club this month, I have been reading the book "Mindfulness & the Art of Drawing, A Creative Path to Awareness." By Wendy Ann Greenhalgh

If you are just joining us, this is the second book we have read in this virtual book club. Click here for the first book. Here is how the book club works:

For this book club I will select a book that embraces creativity in some form. After I read it I will share it with you here on the blog along with my thoughts and observations. I encourage you to also share your thoughts in the comment section below each post. Also feel free to leave book suggestions! The theme is creativity so????

"Mindfulness & the Art of Drawing," is filled with great information about using various drawing techniques in such a way as to promote Mindfulness  and creativity. It reads a little like a textbook, which makes sense considering Wendy is a creative mindfulness teacher by profession. She writes
with a combination of instruction, explanation, and personal experiences that make her method easy to follow. Throughout the book she has drawing exercises laid out for you to try. The exercises include Mindful Doodling, Drawing With Your Breath, Observational Drawings, and much more.

Contour Line Drawing Exercise, "Direct Experiencing" Part 3 page 63

I found the book to be a little challenging to read, mostly because it was less conversational and more text book or instructional. I tend to prefer reading books with a more conversational tone. I did however find the book to be a great resource for tips and ideas on how to use drawing in my mindfulness practice. Mindfulness is a rather recent area of interest for me and I have been focusing heavily on Creative Mindfulness here in the studio and in my personal practice. Wendy is very Knowledgeable and I follow her online, which is where I first learned of her book. You can find her website here.

One of my favorite passages in the book:
Here Wendy is describing an experience she had when was drawing a rose, where she began to really see the rose.

"I was totally immersed in seeing that rose, and the marks I made were just an extension of this act of noticing and relating. The rose unfolded before my eyes, revealing under the continuing closeness of my attention even more aspects of itself, aspects that, of course, my usual cursory glance would never have noticed."

I also enjoyed how she addressed one's inner critic. We all have them, and unfortunately as adults we tend to allow that critic to tell us frequently what we can not do. One of my passions here at the studio is to help people work through their inner critics through creative play. She talks about working through her own creative blocks sparked by the inner critic through mindfulness. I love that!

If you have read this book I would love to hear your thoughts, please leave a comment. If you would like to read this book you can order it here. Don't forget to come back and let me know what you thought!