This playful and dynamic exercise combines movement, mark-making, and colour to explore the relationship between body and creativity. I came up with this exercise as a way to loosen up both physically and artistically .
Gather Materials:
- An artist’s journal, unlined notebook, or piece of paper
- 2 pencils of different weights. I used a 2H Pencil and a Charcoal Pencil. I just randomly took two without any thought to hardness or boldness. I just wanted them to be different from each other.
- 4
coloured pencil crayons - A timer
Today’s Exercise
Ragdoll Drawing
- Place your journal on the floor
- Hold a pencil in each hand
- Bend at the waist and hang in the ragdoll yoga pose
- touch the pencils to the paper
- Close your eyes
- Without any thought to outcome, move your arms making marks on the paper for 5-10 seconds
Response to the Marks
- Set a timer for 5 minutes
- Sit comfortably with your pencils in front of you
- Spend the 5 minutes responding to the marks on the page
- Extend some lines
- Make some lines dotted and some dashed
- Add some spirals
- Colour in some shapes. I filled in two shapes with each of my 4
colours .
Reflections on the Exercise
- My back loves the ragdoll pose! A great way to loosen up at the start of my day
- This was the first exercise where I used colour. I did enjoy adding this dimension.
- Some of the ragdoll lines are very light, a few were heavy. I’m not sure if this was the due more to my pressure or the difference between the two pencils.
- The movement used to create the initial marks is evident in the finished piece.
This exercise is as much about physical release as it is about artistic exploration. It’s a great reminder to embrace spontaneity and let your body guide your creativity.