Relaxing Into Spring
Arting and Stress Reduction +
Free Coloring Sheets!
April is National Stress Awareness Month, which is an opportunity to raise awareness about the impact of stress on our lives and to promote healthy coping strategies. One such strategy is art-making, which has been shown to reduce stress and improve overall well-being from dopamine to heart rate to even potentially lengthening one’s life! Art really does the body good, and I encourage all of you to give it some time during your days and weeks. It’s about the process and getting lost a bit outside of time on the intuitive side.
I’m kicking it off with a series of free coloring sheets you can download and print on you printer! If you want to use watercolor, I found that the presentation, matte paper worked well (though not as good as watercolor paper). You could do these with your family and honestly frame them easily, perhaps a bathroom art!
Mindful coloring is a popular way to reduce stress and anxiety. Choose a coloring book with intricate designs, and set aside some time each day to color mindfully. Focus on the present moment, and allow yourself to relax and unwind. I like to have a candle on too and sometimes some groovey new age music vibes like Anugama’s Shamanic Dream.
A note about the coloring sheets in this series: I make these in Midjourney where I use words to describe what I am imaging, and the AI program returns a series of images. Ones I like, I keep. It is a bit random and good results are a bit of luck and really good use of words. 🙂
Inkjet Paper for Watercolor
Example presentation I used for watercolors. This matte paper doesn’t buckle too much. Regular inkjet paper is fine for markers and dry media such as colored pencils and crayons
If you use these, I would love to see photos of your work and how you experienced it! Use #FloralPolarBearColoringSheet on your posts or tag me @jillyhop333. 🙂
I also am selling a pack of 13 images including this polar bear on my Etsy. Foxes, unicorns, ducks are among the animals featured: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1465403489/13-spring-coloring-sheets-mothers-day
Intentional Creativity(R) Linneage
Over holiday 2015, I consciously committed to following my path and my passion in whatever form that might be. I began doing daily watercolor doodles, praying for my purpose and joy to emerge, as well as enrolling in an online year-long healing/painting class with...
Future Teacher Visioning
When interviewed for this program by Shiloh Sophia, she asked me to close my eyes and imagine in the future a class I would be teaching from Color of Woman. I closed my eyes, and I felt myself walk out of the back porch of my home, and it was beautiful out: flowers...
Soulful Affirmation Deck!
I did Color of Woman's Soulful Card Deck class in preparation to teach it. It was wonderful, and much more powerful than I anticipated! I regularly create art, as well as art driven by Spirit, but these cards definitely held more power. I can only image it was due to...
Painting Doodle in February
PTSD
More words need to be said about PTSD. I have heard people be a little poo poo on PTSD and be a little negative emotions as if they make a person weak or they are too sensitive. I think this is a terrible thing that is rampant in the culture in the United States. It...
Valentines Day Cards – FREE
I made some watercolor hearts into free downloads for Valentine's Day. It's a reminder our hearts are previous, our feelings so important. Hearts tell us when we are on the right path or not. And they can be captured if we are not paying attention. I honor your heart....
What If
This is a more philosophical post but gets at something I try to do with jillyhop and my art -- create a break from the fear and darkness facebook and the media are trying to put into us.Why I make and share art: What if the most valuable asset from humanity is our...
What we are here to do
Each and every one of us has a place. There are no outsiders. There is no fight. We are to remember our place. In remembering, we honor our soul. Inadvertently assisting others in finding their own place, as we live from ours. And this, this, they may call peace. Jen...
Mulching the Fear
Oh Great Ones Help us to mulch our fears Dug deep into the ground Deep in to the ground Where they feed the Mother Feeding the Mother as she Converts it into the blessings of Marigolds, Whipperwillows, and dragonsnappers. Bless the seeds. Bless our fears. Great Ones...
