Did you know that just the act of coloring shapes can relieve stress?
Lots of studies have shown that coloring relaxes your amygdala, which is the fear center of your brain. This calms your mind and your body.
It makes you be in the present moment and forget all your worries for a while.
In this exercise, we will color simple shapes with colors that calm us. I love dark green, yellow, and pink, which are the ones that I will be using. Choose the shape or shapes that you like. My shape is a sort of rounded rectangle. I didn’t want any sharp edges, but I didn’t feel like just coloring circles either.
If you have no idea, just start and see what comes out.
This exercise is for anyone and requires no special skills, you just need a piece of paper and something to color with.
Enjoy and relax with this mindful shape coloring exercise.
You can find a small video of this exercise on my Instagram @thecreativecooldown
Supplies used:
Watercolor paper, cold-pressed, 300gr (Winsor & Newton), paintbrushes no. 2 and 8 (da Vinci), mechanical pencil (Pentel), fineliners (Copic), Pen-touch gold and white (Sakura), gouache (Holbein artists’), palette.
Alternative supply suggestions:
For this coloring shapes exercise, you don’t need to use gouache if that’s not available to you. Use whatever supplies you have: watercolor, colored pencils, markers, crayons, etc.
Instructions:
1. Lightly sketch some shapes on your paper. See what feels good and which shapes speak to you. I have drawn my rounded rectangles and circle in a sort of flower shape. But, you can draw your shapes vertically, horizontally, or all over the place. It’s totally up to you.
2. Pick some colors that calm you. Start coloring your shapes, take your time and just focus on filling them with your color or colors. The material is not important. However, if you want to add shapes within your shape and you use a material that is not opaque, such as watercolor, know that you cannot paint a lighter color over a darker one. Just leave some space within your shape blank for another color.
3. If you’ve used paint, wait until it’s dry before continuing with this step. I chose another color and painted smaller shapes within my main rounded rectangles and circles. Add as many layers as you want. You can use different materials for each layer as well.
4. When all your shapes are done, you can add some extra things, if you’d like, such as patterns, dots, or an outline. And then, you’re done with this mindful coloring shapes exercise.
If you liked this exercise, you might like my Mindful neurographic drawing exercise as well.
