A cornerstone of Art After Dark is the belief that our lives are changed by the people around us.

When our relationships are strong, research shows that we live happier, longer lives, partly because they serve as a gateway to our own personal and professional development.

I continue to experience this with my incredibly supportive and encouraging coaching cohort and am soaking up the wisdom of the group, not just that of the trainers.

This is such an important concept that surprises some teams that I work with at first as some participants hold the expectation that I will provide them with answers to their challenges.

Through simple, collaborative art-making, discussion and coaching, I help them draw out their own wisdom and that of their colleagues and this is the real rocket fuel for the team!

One of my favourite quotes from author Nancy Kline sums it up beautifully, “The mind that holds the problem holds the solution.”

One way you can cultivate this in your teams is by building your team's emotional intelligence.

And in this year's last Summer Snippet, I'm going to share a tool that some coaches use to practice building their emotional awareness, articulation & response.

Emotions are Data

First things first - notice how you're feeling at even the thought of articulating your emotions.

Many clients struggle with this so if this is you, you're in good company!

This isn't surprising as up until recently, many of us were brought up to suppress our emotions and avoid "getting emotional" at all costs!

I invite you, however to look at emotions, not as good or bad, but as data.

How you or someone in your team reacts to certain inputs or circumstances is information.

How you respond is then down to you.

Being able to correctly detect, identify and talk about these emotions can dramatically improve communication between you and your team members.

It just takes a bit of practice...

A Simple Exercise

The exercise comes from a discipline called Psychosynthesis.

It can help you to build awareness of how you listen, react and respond.

-----------

In pairs, Person A speaks about something that's going on for them and Person B listens and once Person A has finished talking, Person B responds to what's been said as follows:

• I receive from you ……(e.g joy/ nervousness / mischief)

• In my body ……(e.g I feel relaxed/ a knot / butterflies)

• At the level of my feelings ……(e.g worried / relieved / amusement)

• My mind is thinking ……(e.g you're very capable of resolving this / let it go )

• The message I want to send you is ……(e.g I have faith in you / I feel the same / I have days like this too / I'm here if you need help)

Then swap roles.

Art as a Container

One of the reasons this is powerful is that you're slowing down your thinking and giving you and your colleague time to notice what's happening rather than rushing to respond.

This is one of the main reasons collaborative art-making as a team is so effective, because it helps people slow down, notice and listen deeply to what comes up for them and their colleagues.

It may now seem obvious but had been buried under the daily business or surface-level communication.

The pictures created, provide a "container", outside of their minds and bodies to help them look at challenges more objectively and seek support and guidance from their peers.

Relationships can become deeper with every interaction as knowledge and emotional articulation and regulation grows.

Plus, people feel less inhibited talking alongside sketching and painting as it makes it feel less serious and less intense so they can relax and open up.

Sketch🖼️

This week I'm sharing something I don't normally share - a "thumbnail" sketch.

This is a pre-drawing artists use to establish composition before committing to a full painting. They used to be very small but, hence the name but now they're any size!

I've sketched out my workings for an expressive portrait I'm planning.

I hyper-pigment the skin tones of all of my portraits as to me, the unexpected flashes of colour represent the true character and emotions that live beneath the surface of us all.

As my natural artistic style fits this week's theme so well, it makes sense to share some behind the scenes of my artistic process which I hope you enjoy.