Ryn Gargulinski

Creativity on Fire

art therapy projects

Art Therapy Project: REBIRTH

The art therapy topic of REBIRTH immediately brought to mind born-again Christians, which brought to mind all sorts of religions, which brought to mind cults.

This then prompted me to think of the creepy cult episode of Netflix’s Encounters with Evil where the Heaven’s Gate guy said humans need to remove their genitals so they can be more like aliens and then everyone killed themselves.

And I just didn’t feel like going there.

So I took another path with the rebirth topic instead.

  • Topic: Rebirth
  • Result: Rebirth painting alternatively known as “The Mystery of the Floating Goat.” Acrylic, glass paint and paint markers on canvas. Note the floating goat is in an orb of light, protected from all the demonic things writhing around him.

Artist Q&A

What’s with the floating goat?

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been convinced that if I were ever reborn I would come back as a goat. For some reason, reincarnation/rebirth always makes me think of goats – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The goodliness of it all was reinforced when a Gen Xer pal pointed out that the letters from GOAT stand for:

  • Greatest
  • Of
  • All
  • Time

Pretty cool, no?

What’s with the demonic things?

The demonic things represent evils of the past. These evils include less-than-boastful behaviors and the horribly negative mindset I used to succumb to on a regular basis. Self-care, therapy and lots of love have helped me escape the demonic things of my past to become reborn as, well, a floating goat.

Anything else we should know?

Changes throughout our lives cause us to be reborn constantly. Whether it’s with a new job, a new relationship or an entirely new mindset. This is a good thing.

Coming back as a goat would be a good thing, too. I had five pet goats in New Mexico and they’re tons of fun. They hop. They play. They climb trees. And it sure beats being reborn as a gnat or something.

Where can we get more Rynski goat artwork?

Oh, I love that question!

Check out a whole goat collection of goodies on Zazzle.

Enjoy!

Art Therapy Project: SATISFACTION

When the topic of SATISFACTION was proposed for our art therapy project, my mind immediately hopped to the Cheshire cat with his infamous grin. So I knew I had to create a cat.

  • Topic: Satisfaction
  • Result: Satisfaction cat made of pen, ink, glitter glue and paint on canvas. Note the illustrations within the cat’s body that depict different things that bring me satisfaction.

Artist comments:

While the Cheshire cat was definitely the primary motivator for creating a cat for the topic of satisfaction, he wasn’t the only one. Cats in general kept coming to mind with this topic. Not only is cat art fun to create, but felines frequently look very satisfied with themselves. Maybe it’s because they:

  • Sleep 18 hours a day
  • Do what they want, when they want
  • Ignore or even shun people yet still get love and attention
  • Can jump extraordinary distances
  • Always manage to land on their feet
  • Are thought to have magical, mystical, supernatural powers
  • Have nine different lives to play around with

Dang good reasons to be satisfied.

The topic also made me think of a cat perched high in the cat bird seat, next to an open bird cage, with the kind of contented grin one can only get from eating the resident bird.

I didn’t want to use the idea of eating small feathered things as the only way to be satisfied, so I let that last thought flutter out of my head altogether.

My final project result was a non-bird-eating Satisfaction Cat, featuring a rosy pink, glittery outlook, a collage of images representing things that bring me satisfaction, and a sensationally satisfied smile.

Enjoy!

satisfaction cat art therapy
Things that bring satisfaction:: Hummingbird, sunshine
satisfaction cat art therapy
Things that bring satisfaction: Planets, pulling out a splinter
satisfaction cat art therapy
Things that bring satisfaction: Flowers, garden, hugs, purple swirls from Biomat energy, headstand on a paddle board
satisfaction cat art therapy
Things that bring satisfaction: Love, dogs, lifting weights, naps, making money, LOL-ing, phone calls with mom, job well done

Dig the satisfaction cat? Check out more fun felines and other animals at rynski’s etsy shop.

What to do with Old Greeting Cards

Greeting cards are glorious, but they end up presenting a dilemma. Once you’ve enjoyed their sentiments and displayed them long enough to gather dust, what the heck do you do with them?

  • Throwing them in the recycle bin feels rude.
  • Throwing them in a little box in the closet works for a while, until the little box becomes a big box and the closet becomes the garage.
  • Keeping them up for display too long transforms the dust they gathered into corrosion. It also confuses house guests when they see a birthday card sent to you in May that’s still on display come October.

There must be another option. There is.

Make a Greeting Card Collage

The greeting card collage idea came to me when our art therapy group was assigned the topic of
SPIRIT – and mom had just so happened to have sent me a box of my baby and childhood greeting cards she found while cleaning out her basement.

The two worlds merged beautifully.

Childhood cards worked for the SPIRIT topic for several reasons (as you have to explain to the doc who heads the art group):

  • They were given in the SPIRIT of love.
  • They portray the SPIRIT of family.
  • Baby cards are especially a propos, as babies are new SPIRITS fresh out of heaven.
  • Most of the folks who had given the cards were now dead, and thus SPIRITS themselves.

Pretty good, eh?

greeting card collage

Tips for Making a Greeting Card Collage

Gather your supplies:

  • Canvas or some type of foundation
  • Mod Podge or other quality collage glue
  • Paint brush to apply the glue
  • Scissors to cut out portions of cards that catch your eye (like the freakish 1970s illustrations of baby faces)
  • Gaggle of greeting cards

Set the Theme

You can certainly make a hodgepodge Mod Podge collage with snippets of cards pasted randomly all over the canvas. Or you can pick a theme, as I did.

My overall theme was an angel (more SPIRIT). I cut the card snippets to look like feathers in the wings and picked particularly striking sentiments to serve as the angel’s face and body.

The face contains childhood writing from my brother in a smeary green marker. I cut it into a skull shape to add an edgy feel to the angel. The body features a funny card sentiment, again from my bro. It’s a pithy phrase about how having a sister is fabulous, especially if you can’t have a hamster.

Start Cutting and Pasting

The rest of the process is pretty straightforward. Set aside time to go through each card, snipping out sentiments that are near and dear, make you laugh, contain freakish 1970s illustrations or otherwise catch your eye.

WARNING: Do NOT attempt to go through old childhood memories on a weekday before work in case you’re overcome with emotions as I was.

Paste your greeting card snippets on the canvas, give the final product a finishing coat of Mod Podge, and then prop the whole thing on your séance table or couch back so it can sit around for months and gather dust.

Yep. My project backfired for a spell. Instead of having greeting cards on display gathering dust, I now had a whole greeting card collage on display gathering dust. Don’t fret. I found a permanent home where it’s now nestled nicely. A place where I aim to dust frequently.

Enjoy!

Like the collage idea? Get inspired by other rynski art.

greeting card collage
Greeting card collage detail from right wing.
greeting card collage
Greeting card collage detail from left wing.
greeting card collage
Greeting card collage freaky 1970s face.

 

Art Therapy Project: COMMUNITY = Lionfish

Here comes another art therapy project, which always produces some insightful stuff.

  • Topic: Community
  • Result: Lionfish made of metal, glue, hardened clay blob, screw eyes and paint

Artist comments:

I thought I was being really clever here, creating a fish where each spike/fin thing represented a different community to which I belong. We got the artist community, writer community, Reiki community, girlfriend community, sister community, daughter community, dog lover community and so on.

When I was done, however, I realized my creation for the topic of community was a poisonous fish that pretty much kills anything that comes near it. Hahahahhaah.

Told you this was insightful stuff.

Too bad I’ll be missing the group session on this topic as I’ll be out of town. What a doozy that one would be!

Enjoy!

Like rynski art? Go ahead and buy some.