Doodling is good medicine. When you need a mental break from whatever you’re currently stressed about or trying to work through, art is a valuable refuge. And you don’t need to be an artist to get there.
A Drawing Meditation like this one, gives your logical, conscious brain some rules to follow. While your logical side follows instructions it keeps busy and engaged so that your subconscious mind has some room to wander. I get great insights and ideas from that part of my mind, so I want to give it plenty of space and time to do its thing
Petal Loops are my recent obsession for relaxing my mind in the middle of a busy day. The rules are easy but the effect is beautiful. And you don’t have to finish all at once, you can stop and restart the same drawing.
How to Petal Loop
Grab and sheet of paper and a pen. Any kind of paper, any sort of pen. I used a black felt-tip marker for this example.
Draw some overlapping squiggles that begin and end at the same point. You want to make closed loops of different sizes and shapes. You can do this inside a circle or freely on the page. The example above is one big long line.
“Inline” each shape on the page by tracing inside of each closed shape. Inlining is the opposite of outlining and it makes the lines of the squiggles visible in the completed art.
Now you have finished the loops. On to the petals!
Inside each inline, pick a point to start – a literal point or a corner is a good place because it makes it easy to fan the petals to fill the space. But it can be anywhere. Experiment as you go.
Draw a petal from the starting point all the way to the other side. The top of the petal should touch the inline.
The draw more petals to each side, forming a fan that connects at the starting point. Each petal should touch the inline if possible.
Fill in the space around the petals. You are darkening the background so the petals pop out. This is why I use a felt tip pen; it makes the filling go faster. Take your time and be precise, or let yourself work loosely. If your background slips into a petal, you can find a way to fix it later or you can embrace imperfection.
When every loop is filled, the drawing is complete. Or you can continue your meditation and embellish with dots, lines, or even color it in.
