Since we’ve been having a lot of discussions about how technology can negatively impact mental and physical health, I thought now would be a good time to share something that might promote overall wellness: neurographic art!

You’re probably asking: what the heck is neurographic art!?

According to the Vancouver Visual Art Foundation, neurographic art is…

Neurographic art is a technique, which comprises drawing freeform lines or ‘neuro lines.’ These are meant to enable the connection between the conscious and unconscious, gaining access to the inner self by using a specific algorithm or method.

If that still doesn’t make sense, here’s another definition from the Minisink Valley Central School District:

This creative method stimulates new neural pathways by combining art and psychology.  Simply stated, connected neurons process information received. enabling people to interact,  experience emotions and sensations, create memories and enable learning. The art technique  was created by Russian psychologist, creativity entrepreneur and architect Pavel Piskarev in 2014.

Also known as “doodling”, apparently. A fancy name for something you might already be doing. It’s basically the intersection between drawing and mindfulness/meditation practices. It’s really similar to something I also love called Zentangling (but that’s a different post). If that still doesn’t make sense, here’s a video from creator @JulesWhiteArt on YouTube explaining neurographic art (with visuals!). She also gives some instructions on how to do it.

Neurographic art has benefits for social and emotional wellbeing, as well as decreasing stress levels.

Here’s a recent example that I made, using this video from @andrea.nelson.art on Tik Tok:

@andrea.nelson.art

I used watercolor on this but you could use crayons or markers or colored pencils, or maybe you dont want to add color at all. You get to do what you want! Hope this is helpful for someone like me 😊 #artforanxiety #arttherapy #neurographicart #easyart #watercolor #mentalhealth supplies: sharpie, my tropical and basic watercolor palettes, canson watercolor paper

♬ fish in the pool・花屋敷 – ヘクとパスカル

Here’s my version (it’s not as nice, but it was fun to make!):

I’ve done something similar with students during my internship in arts ed, and I think neurographic art would be a great thing to incorporate for anyone. Would you try this in your classroom?

Okay, I know I’m a post behind on my learning project, but I have a good reason: I made an eleventh hour change to the focus of my project and had to rethink my timeline and the ways I would go about documenting my progress.

I initially planned to improve on my ukulele skills. I play a bit already, but not well and it’s a useful skill to have in the classroom as an arts ed teacher (or any teacher, really). But every time I sat down to play my ukulele, or write a blog post about it, I didn’t want to. Not that ukulele is bad, but it’s just not what my brain is interested in right now. Lately I’ve been wanting to mostly work on my watercolour painting, in part due to my annual valentine making tradition.

Backstory: In 2021, I started making homemade valentines and sending them to friends and family around the world. It was a hit – turns out people still love getting physical mail. I’ve kept up the tradition since, there are a few examples below.

Anyways, this tradition usually involves watercolour painting of some kind. As Valentine’s Day is coming up, I decided to stop fighting my intuition and just transition my learning project to improving on my watercolour skills rather than my ukulele playing.

My baseline for watercolour is mixed. I’ve dabbled in the medium for the last ten years or so, but I wouldn’t say I’m proficient. I’ve utilized it to do some university assignments and in the classroom as an arts ed teacher. See examples below, from my ESCI 310 final project last year.

For my first week, I’ve been working mainly from tutorials posted by artists on Instagram. My mom also likes watercolour, so she’s been sending me tons of cool things to try out. I’ve tried this one from Mary Wu (@mamapandapainter on Instagram), and one or two of my own based on images.