Steampunk Paper Doll Journal - Spread 15 - Art as medicine

"Life itself is the material of art. Whatever a person paints, dances, or sings has significance when we restrain ego's value judgements. Creation is a sentient and instinctual flow that determines where to go and what to change or omit.
The most fundamental and useful technique in this work is the ability to look at Ego, the "I", as one of the many players or collaborators in the creative process. This perspective on ourselves avoids complete identification with the feeling of the moment. We are able to look at fear, anger, desire, ecstasy, depression, success, failure and other emotions as phenomena with which we interact.  They move through us. Change is guaranteed only if I can let go of my attachment to each feeling as it appears."
- Shaun McNiff (in 'Art as Medicine': Creating a Therapy of the Imagination')(American Expressive Art therapist, Professor and author)