The Open Notebook: First Edition

If you haven’t seen yet, I launched a new initiative here called the Open Notebook. It is designed to be a space where people can write, anonymous or otherwise, and discuss art, faith, meaning, the creative process, life, etc. I decided to do this for a couple of reasons:

  1. to push some creative bounds and challenge myself this year (whether people write in or not is totally out of my control, which is uncomfortable, and the types of questions or engagement I get is out of my hands too). This will be a new process that involves not just my usual solo work but opening myself wider to engage with other people. It feels a bit riskier than doing a drawing I have total control over.

  2. To write more. I have been writing more poetry and using writing to express my ideas recently. I think this initiative will be fun, different and allow for more space to write.

  3. To open a space for other people to express themselves in a non-judgemental space, off social media, where they can find a sense of connection too.

Without further ado, here are the first submissions and my responses:

#1: Seeing personalities as colours"

“Seen a post you did once, where you said you see colours as numbers ( i think it was numbers) and how musicians can see music as rhythm and colours... 
This peaked my interest, because i see people, personalities and emotions as colours (auras if you will). As i got older and understood it better, It has changed the way i see the world, the way i see and interact with people. 
I can only put it down to a gift of discernment, but it shows to me through colours.

Certain colours to me associate with " Good person/ Bad person/ Honesty/ dishonesty / Kindness/ Strength / Love and strong emotions type of vibes. 

Just a small encounter with someone will give them a “colour” or even “colours". Its kind of personality traits or in-time emotional responses. I feel like i walk around in a world of iridescent people. I'd be really interested to see how you would draw/paint that. Might make for some cool artwork.  My creative process is through physical objects arranging, grouping, colour matching. Almost OCD like, in a world full of colourful people (in my eyes) grouping and keeping colours, shapes and objects together and similar create a sense of calm in my mind.  Weird, huh!”

-Anonymous

Hi, Anonymous.

You were the very first person to write in and it made my whole day to read your thoughts. I have been pondering them since.

Yes, I have written and talked about synesthesia, a sensory condition you can read more about here. For me, it’s primarily that I see days of the week, numbers, letters and months all very visually with set colours that don’t change over time (Tuesday, September, and the number 8 are all yellow and I will not accept otherwise, lol).

Your experience is really fascinating to me. There was one line you wrote that jumped right out at me straight away, which was this:

“I feel like i walk around in a world of iridescent people.”

What a beautiful phrase, and concept. I haven’t got set ideas myself about seeing what you’re describing as ‘auras’, and I have never experienced that, but I love that you mentioned this might be like a real-time emotional response to people, only instead of feeling it, you have almost an extra-sensory visual experience of it too.

I wonder, if you read this and wanted to write back in response about the following:

-Can you give me an example of the sorts of colours you would associate with kindness, or truth, or a loving presence? (may or may not be for drawing idea purposes). Are there shapes or anything defined, or more a foggy undefined vibe?

-Does it get tiring to perceive people in such a multi-dimensional kind of way? Or it is kind of exciting to walk around the world like that?

-Do your first impressions/ first sense of someone’s ‘colour’ ever turn out to be incorrect, or is it almost like intuition where you trust it every time?

-Can you perceive colour for yourself? What is it?

Thanks so much for being the very first engager of this project, and for sharing your experiences.

#2: Abstraction Vs. Realism

“Hi Alana. Lani. I love the bright colours in your work and the idealised forms. This sort of work brings me joy. That is why I like naive art. I discovered abstracting forms gave me the opportunity to bring meaning into my art without the stress of trying for perfect realism. Do you find that too?”

-Lyndell

Hi Lyndell,

Thanks for appreciating the vividness of the colours, I use pencils that I press into oblivion on the page to achieve that brightness.

I really admire realists and find that I would make an absolutely hopeless one. I found in previous attempts that the time spent gridding up a page, working from a photo, and focussing on the tiny details and accuracy completely took the joy of spontaneous creativity out of the picture. It felt too mathematical for me. I think maybe some art borders more on maths, on precision, and has much less to do with that completely reckless joyful creative process. Maybe that is a cynical take coming from someone who doesn’t have the patience for it. So, my rationale has become ‘if I can’t draw a lifelike eye, why not draw one tiny and one HUGE just to play with scale and hoodwink everyone into thinking that was always the plan’

So far, I think this approach has worked well.

As for meaning, I am more interested in representing complex, esoteric or curious ideas in symbolic ways than trying to perfect a still-life of fruit. It sounds like you’ve found freedom in the more abstract approach too, and I hope you keep finding time to have space for the joy of abstraction.

Mockingbird God/ A Mirror: 2026 poetry

This poem and drawing was an emotional vent, a processing of frustration, and then secondly, a brief poem on the effects going to church today had on me afterwards.

Diary Of An Art Therapist II: Artist Talk & Insights Into My Art Practice

It has been a little too long.

I thought I should jump on here and share some cool things that have been happening recently!

I currently have a solo art show! Possibly the largest solo collection I’ve displayed (18 drawings).

It is on until the end of January at Gold Coast University Hospital. You can see it until then, or you can read a little more about it:

Gold Coast Health writes about it here.

Yesterday, I gave a brief artist talk about the show. I shared a bit about my art process and thought I would to share a little bit here too.

My Drawing Process:

  • I generally prefer working on A3 sized paper. Just large enough to convey what I want without feeling cramped, and small enough that it’s not overwhelming so I can finish the drawing in time before I lose interest.

  • I use 300GSM university cartridge paper- Just a nice texture and weight that my pencils work well on. I buy this from School Art Supplies in large scale a1 sized packs and then cut them down.

  • I store all my finished artworks and blank papers in an art room in my house that I have to climate control to ensure nothing grows mold (it’s an older house prone to trapping humidity). I run a dehumidifer 24/7 to make sure I can control moisture levels for preservation.

  • I use a combination of biro and prismacolor pencils usually- I find these pencils the most vibrant of any brand I’ve ever used, and most pens dry out over the top of them, hence the cheap store biro works well for outlining.

  • I find that an idea really needs to light up my imagination and stir something in me or I lose interest too quickly to stay with the idea for a whole drawing. I do dabble with other creative things (occasionally painting with watercolours or sculpting or making earrings etc) but for me, drawing is my primary expressive outlet, and is especially the medium I turn to for processing, wrestling with the world and finding my ‘voice.’

  • I am in awe of artists who do what I cannot do. I cannot do realism. I cannot do patience and longsuffering over art that takes months or years to finish. I cannot do mathematical things like grid up my page because i find that boring and too formulaic. I am in awe of the precision of those kinds of artists. I can mainly use my imagination and deliberately avoid trying to get correct proportions and angles and details etc. I hope I can pull off the quirky style instead, lol.

Inspiration:

-Overhead snippets of conversations

-My faith, and biblical stories

-My work as a therapist with people in the mental health sector

-Music, particularly the Beatles as a standout source of inspiration

-My internal emotional experiences (frustration, sadness at ‘the world’, delight, confusion, outrage etc). Drawing is my answer to “what do I DO with how I feel?” I put it down on paper and express it, which feels productive/ useful and helps me to stay balanced and find some hope.

My advice for emerging artists finding their voice:

  • Don’t worry so much about how other artists do things. There’s a lot of advice in the art world about what to use, your techniques, etc. You will find your voice, in your way, that satisfies how you want to do things.

  • Don’t ignore your impulse to ‘make’ when life gets busy. I think of a pressure cooker. It explodes. When you get the impulse to let some of that steam out and put pen to paper (or whatever you prefer) don’t ignore it! Make time, even brief, to keep accessing creativity as your outlet.

  • Something to ponder in your practise: art is a vehicle, a communication tool. Aside from art for art’s sake and pure enjoyment (nothing wrong with that!) if you are creating original pieces, what are you saying? What are you pointing people towards? You have something to say. Is it political? Religious? Defiant? Calling people to something positive? Spend time with that.

Until next time, which hopefully isn’t as far away as the last time, x.

Mental Health Week 2025 Reflections: Art As...

Art is a survival tool. I mean survival in the sense that I could live without art, but the quality of my life would be diminished.

I drew this when I was 17 and in grade 12. I don’t think I gave it a title. This is what I mean by ‘unbottling’. This image represents the teenage angst, anxiety and frustrations I felt at this time- and I needed somewhere to put this. Thank God for having a tangible way to represent and ‘unbottle’ my emotions.

I mean survival in the sense that art is a bridge to others, to share common humanity and tell stories. Art is deeply humanising.

Also, the process of making art helps preserve my good mental health.

This week is Queensland Mental Health week, and I wanted to reflect on some of the very specific ways art helps me personally to stay well.

  1. Art As A Great Unbottling

  1. Art functions as a way to ‘unbottle’ what could easily be bottled up if I did not have an avenue to let it out. It is a ‘great unbottling’ of emotions. Talking can be effective also, but drawing just allows a little more ‘simmer’ time to ‘sit with’ the feeling and let it come to life on paper. Even the unpleasant stuff, when uncovered and expressed, can be beautiful and has a place within my story. I fear no emotion, in fact I embrace them all when it comes to their usefulness in art making. I once experienced some heartbreak and bitter disappointment, and I made a big painted banner about it, and then someone bought it, and I realised that pain can be transformed (sometimes into personal profit, I learned, lol). Pain doesn’t stay pain when it gets expressed creatively.

2. Art As a clarifying experience.

Kind of like dialogue and debate can give you pause to consider different ideas and arrive at what you think (which takes longer) art making is kind of a shortcut that allows me to stop and figure out ‘what do I actually think about this topic?’ or ‘is that what I actually believe?’ It kind of changes my relationship with ideas, because the act of art making becomes so concrete, so tangible, that it changes my relationship to the idea I am expressing. Like, do I think this enough to put it out into the world and make it more real? Sometimes the answer is yes- cool, I’ve learned something. Sometimes the answer is no- cool, I’ve learned something.

‘Obscurity’ 2018.

This clarifying experience clears my mental fog, helps me understand myself and my responses to the world around me better, and helps me think more clearly.

3. Art as a bridge to others

I love this part of being creative: when you put yourself out there and share your art and someone responds with “I’m not arty but I totally get it…” “I’m not that creative but that resonated with me..” or when people point things out in my work that I didn’t even notice I put there. That happens on a semi-regular basis. Art, though for me is quite a solo endeavour at times, functions to connect me in a meaningful way to other people. I create alone, but then I share what I create and engage and see the response of others which brings me joy. Art is such a great ‘alongside one another’ activity, too, that breaks down awkwardness and transcends verbal language.

Art as a bridge: this image is from a 2019 trip to PNG where I visited remote Western Province villages on a medical ship. I was there to engage kids while medical staff looked after immunisations etc. I took chalk with me and used it to draw with kids from the differing villages. They drew their houses (on stilts) and I copied, then I drew my western style house and they copied me. A great non verbal, reciprocal experience that allowed us to come together and understand each other.


My invitation to you this mental health week, is: is there a creative format you haven’t tried before? What could you use to express or ‘unbottle’?

  • Perhaps writing a poem? (doesn’t even have to rhyme, just get it out!)

  • Doing some cartoonish drawings while you’re on the phone- absent minded squiggles.

  • Writing a ‘dear _____’ letter to express your emotion towards someone (who you will never send it to)

  • Some finger painting! It is surprisingly cathartic! it doesn’t have to ‘look like’ anything- the sensation, the textures, the catharsis is the goal

  • Write a blog post! Put your thoughts out there somewhere (besides the comments section, therapeutic though that may be…lol)

  • What about viewing some art!!! Don’t even worry about the making!!

    Recovered Futures is an exhibit on right now, displaying mental-health themed works by people with lived experience. One of my drawings is available to buy still! Check the whole show out! Here’s the link to see my stuff: Recovered Futures Store- My Artwork

Here’s to unbottling, finding clarity, and building bridges to others via art making this mental health week.

x