The Creative Diary in Quarantine 20 – Land Art & Haïku

Land art & haïku’s

Get out in this beautiful weather!

Landart is an ‘art form’ where you use things from nature (or your environment) to make something: an image, a mandala, … A Haïku is a Japanese poetic form in which an intense moment of experience is expressed.

Writing

  1. Take your diary and something to write with you and go walking in nature.
  2. Make land art, art from landscape elements. Make a mandala of things you find around you: flowers, leaves, branches, stones …
  3. Sit down and write a haïku in your journal about your feelings or what you see, what you have made.

A Haïku is a three-line Japanese poetic form with 5, 7 and 5 syllables each. It doesn’t have to rhyme.

  1. Take a picture of your mandala to keep a souvenir: stick it in your journal or post on the Facebook group.

 

“All good things are wild and free.”

 

What if … you cannot / should not go outside? Landart is about using elements from your environment to make something. Who says that the environment necessarily has to be nature? Ever made a mandala with forks, plates and glasses? Now is the moment!

What if … you don’t understand haiku? The core of this exercise is to write an impression of a nature experience in 3 short lines. Yes, haïkus can have very strict rules and can sometimes be quite a difficult form of poetry, BUT we are here to have fun and not to achieve perfection.

 

TIP: Landart can be more than ground mandalas, of course. Landart can also be a statue that you make from (natural) elements. ATTENTION! Don’t destroy nature too much to make your work. Use what nature gives you.

Would you like to get in touch with others? In Facebook you find a page where participants connect.

 

Important to know:

Working in a Creative Diary is NOT about results, it’s about expressing you inner self. It is NOT about techniques, techniques only help you to express yourself in more different ways. The exercises I give are an INVITATION, not an obligation. You can do the exercise, or not, you can do it differently, it’s at your choosing. The most important thing to remember is that you’re putting yourself and your (inner) world on paper, you are NOT making art. So feel inspired by images, but don’t compare yourself ! Fun and self-expression come first.

What do you need?

  • markers
  • coloured pencils
  • writing materials
  • scissors
  • glue
  • watercolour
  • soft pastels
  • oil pastels
  • some magazines

And of course: a journal/diary. I recommend an 8,3 inches x 11,7 inches notebook (A4 format) with blank paper, but take whatever you find in your house. Blank papier is good too.

More information:

The exercises used in this Creative Diary are based on a method described by Lucia Capacchione, American art-therapist and author of the book The Creative Journal, by Anne-Marie Jobin, Canadian art-therapist and author of the soon to be coming book The New Creative Journal, and myself, Sarah Timmermans, Belgian art-therapist and psychologist (Dutch book: Het Creatieve Dagboek). The method blends knowledge from writing therapy, art-therapy, psychology and basic creativity. It’s a simple method that doesn’t requires any artistic skills and has been used with many ages, many individuals and many groups of people. More questions? Please write me.

Who am I?

I’m Sarah Timmermans, Belgian art-therapist, naturopath and psychologist. I’m trained by Jungian art-therapist/psychologist Csilla Kemenzcei. I work with individuals and with groups. I’m specialised in using diaries, tarot (archetypes) and dreams.