The Spirit of Drawing engages readers in an intriguing series of illustrated visual experiments that combine meditation, expressive therapy, and hands-on exploration with drawing media. Author Connie Smith Siegel’s ideas, developed over many years of research and learning, build on the meditation practice of sensory awareness, a blending of Buddhist meditation and simple physical activities. Applied to creative expression, sensory awareness distills drawing and painting to their simplest components: touching, seeing, and moving. In this unusual and freeing book, artists learn to use these new sensations to guide their hand toward the movements, shapes, and colors that express what they are feeling. Not only do the artists produce a work of art, they express their own emotions and inner wisdom. Techniques gradually build to more complex visual expressions such as representational drawing, color theory, composition, and to the use of art in healing. Part art instruction, part art therapy, The Spirit of Drawing offers a rich spiritual pathway to self-expression.
Connie Smith Siegel has more than forty years’ experience as an artist and teacher; her work has been exhibited across the country. She has studied meditation, Gestalt theory, and expressive art therapy in depth. She lives in Woodacre, California.
