Creativity Anna Libby Style

My own colourful journey

As I grew up surrounded by nature and spent hours smelling the flowers, climbing the trees and playing in the stunning countryside I have always sketched and painted it, and since my 21st birthday photographed it too. I was an outdoor kid with a lot of freedom to roam around the countryside, a liberty which I realise it not possible for many children now. I guess it enabled my creative process to flourish.

I was the youngest child, and only the left-handed member of an academically-driven family. I was also an unrecognized dyslexic and dyscalculate child who just saw the world though my innate creativity and vivid imagination. By the age of 12, I was making my own clothes, often without a pattern by just copying a picture in a magazine. I would make bags, dolls, lampshades, just about anything really. This was my way of developing my own self-worth whilst surrounded by articulate, academically brilliant siblings. I had a place to study Fashion and Design but my father didn't encourage me to do fashion at college as my family beliefs were to do something to "help other people" and my mother suggested Occupational Therapy instead. At that time my self-esteem and common sense told me to do something with guaranteed employment at the end which has been an excellent career for me as I have a sound clinical and therapeutic basis to now expand upon.

It was decades later that I truly acknowledged my creative flair and ability as being equal to my academic qualifications and as valuable and essential to the well-being of society. With war and anger everywhere in the world today, I believe it is vital for everyone to find an avenue to express themselves creatively to find peace.

I have worked extensively with psychiatric clients in both group art situations and on a one-to-one basis using creativity therapeutically with them to, initially build up a relationship and rapport and then build trust in order that they can then explore their feelings though art and pottery. Using art builds confidence, motivation and is useful as a non-verbal means of communication where clients can start to explore their emotions in a safe, non-judgemental environment. Many of these clients have deep sadness within them; often have attempted suicide in the past while others are very angry. Poor concentration is common in this client-group due to these problems and the side affects of medication. Clay is a fabulous media to express one's frustrations out on as it can be hit and thumped whilst creating something with an end result. Many psychiatric clients find it hard to complete a project or even arrive on time to a session so these simple tools aid rehabilitation.

There are many Occupational Therapists who have set up websites about self-expression though group art: www.project-ability.co.uk

Another therapy used extensively within psychiatric rehabilitation is gardening and nature. Everyone feels a boost of morale when out innature. This is because green is the colour in the middle of the colour spectrum and creates a feeling of balance and harmony. My Abstract from my Research Proposal: Horticultural Therapy is it Significant to Mental Health? explains this concept in detail with examples of people getting better quicker when they are able to see greenery.

In the mid eighties, bored with the public sector, and finding myself unexpectedly out of work, I started my own soft furnishings company where I was advising on, designing curtains, cushions, bedspreads etc. I can just hold colours in my mind and create complimentary colour schemes with ease, flair and enthusiasm. My greatest sense of satisfaction was when the customer returned to their home with everything in situ. I now recognise the importance of using colour therapeutically to enhance well- being within environments, including the workplace, in order to produce peace of mind and harmony creating fulfilment and appropriate stimulation at work and at home.

Whilst raising my two sons, in Germany, I reconnected with my own inner child when doing finger (and foot) painting with them, making playdoh together and then just exploring all the weird and wonderful shapes and textures we could create together and the hours of fun we had. It was a time of reminiscing about making mud pies when I was a toddler too.

During my marriage breakdown my own spiritual journey began with the realisation that I could no longer "paper up the cracks" of a period property we were renovating as a distraction from our marital disharmony. I loved the colours I was using on those cracks - very bright, strong, assertive colours- maybe to try and get noticed. I learnt again the importance of colours on mood and felt like a bird in gilded cage. Only once I flew away did my true colours begin to shine. Over the past decade I have discovered my own soul colours of turquoise and orange (see newsletters 1 and 2) and my own purpose which is to combine all these personal and professional skills and knowledge together.

I have taken my purpose in both hands and trained to be a Colour Counsellor and Healer with Iris International School of Colour Therapy www.iriscolour.co.uk.

The Complete Book of Colour by Suzy Chiazzari ISBN number1-86204-259-4 is written by the director of the school and explains the concepts of colour as a healing medium.

International Association of Colour website: www.iac-colour.co.uk explains this still further including the increasing amount of scientific proof that full spectrum light is vital for optimum health.

Now, using guided imagery and many other techniques , I enable my clients to find their soul colours, enhance their image, find their creativity and identify business logos enhance productivity, morale and consequently profits.

Creativity has no right or wrong, and does not answer back.

I believe we are ALL creative, it just lies repressed or dormant in so many of us due to fear, embarrassment, limiting self beliefs or lack of time.

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron ISBN number 0-330-34358-0 has helped me and many of my clients reconnect with their creativity by starting with the "morning pages", a stream of consciousness exercise which helps to slay the Censor within in order to recover one's creativity.

And as for my own dyslexia and dyscalculia, colour space and mapping is now undergoing extensive clinical trails by Orthoscopics of Cambridge and I have had the honour of being involved in this programme and being "cured" by the use of the correct colour filters to my glasses. It has transformed my life. Though this website I hope to bring this awareness to others: www.visualdyslexia.com

Creativity is all around us - I was influenced by van Gogh when I was a 19 year old au-pair in Amsterdam and then last year, whilst visiting Western Australia , I discovered the history and deep significance of Aboriginal art, www.marr-mooditj.com.au explains it well. I have been so inspired by their imagery and symbolism that I am now using many of their techniques myself. On my final day there I stayed at the Benedictine Community of New Norcia (ww.newnorcia.wa.edu.au), which is a community dedicated to supporting aboriginal people through rehabilitation, work and spirituality.