In this mindful Christmas house exercise, we’ll discover how relaxing drawing, coloring, and decorating a simple house can be.
You might think this exercise is not for you because you can’t draw. But trust me, everyone can do this exercise.
To get the most out of this activity, you need to draw and have fun, and you can do that by drawing a simple house. Even a square with a triangle on top is enough. You can do it too.
The mindful part of this exercise is coloring and adding details. Wobbly lines or crooked windows? No problem at all. It’s about getting in a flow and forgetting everything else.
As always, this exercise is about the process, not the outcome.
It’s fun to see your whole drawing come to life by adding shadows. And I will take you through it step by step. So grab a pen or pencil, and let’s get started.
I hope you have some well-deserved creative me-time with this exercise!
Have fun with this mindful Christmas house exercise! Please let me know if you’ve tried this one; I would love to see it.
You can find a small video of this exercise on my Instagram @thecreativecooldown
Supplies used:
Glitter watercolor paper 300gr (Paul Rubens), alcohol makers (Ohuhu), acrylic markers (Ohuhu), fineliner 0.05 (Winsor & Newton), fineliner 0,03 (Copic), washi tape.
Alternative supply suggestions:
You can use whatever material you have for this exercise, such as colored pencils, crayons, watercolors, etc.
Instructions:
Step 1
Before you start, slowly breathe in and out a few times to clear your head.
Draw a house. This can be as simple or as detailed as you like. You can draw a square with a triangle on top with a door and windows or make it more complex. You can even draw a fantasy house. There are no strict rules here. You can use a ruler to make straight lines, but I like the wobbly lines. Add some snow on the top of your house.
Step 2
Now, it’s time to add some color. But, again, you’re free to do what you like. You can choose colors that are most common for houses or go crazy and choose entirely different ones. You can also vary the colors you use for your bricks if you like. Again, this will have a playful effect.
Try to color in one direction, as this will make this step relaxing, almost meditative.
Step 3
After step 2, your house might look a bit simple and one-dimensional. By adding shadows, you can create depth. First, choose where your light source comes from. I pretended that the light came from the top-left corner. This means that all the windows and doors have shade on their left side and below the top part. There will also be a shadow below ledges or pieces that stick out a bit, such as a window sill.
Step 4
Now, we’ll give our house some Christmas celebrations. First, of course, we need lights. So I took a bright yellow acrylic marker and added dots along the side of the house and below the roof. Then I grabbed a slightly lighter yellow marker and created a small circle around my bright yellow dots. This represents the glow of the lights. Lastly, I grabbed a fineliner, circled all the bright yellow dots, and added a line between all the dots.
I also wanted to add some extra snow. So, I added snow on top of the door, windows, and sills with a white acrylic marker. Imagine where the snow would gather and draw bits of snow in these spots.
If you like, you can add other decorations as well.
Now this mindful Christmas house exercise is done! I hope you had fun.
If you liked this exercise, you might also like my mindful drawing Christmas lights exercise.
