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Health & Wellness
Mindfulness
Mindfulness activities promote both mental and physical well-being. On this page, you will find practices and activities curated to foster peace and tranquility. Take a moment to relax, refresh, and re-energize with these calming exercises in creativity and reflection.
Beauty and Tranquility at Sunnylands
Please enjoy this five minute mindfulness video featuring striking images of Sunnylands with instrumental music in the background.
Wake Up with Tea and Coffee
Drawing and painting can be a fun, meditative part of anyone’s morning ritual. For those who do not have paints at home or may be traveling, tea or coffee can be used as a painting medium. In this nine-minute video, viewers will learn how to use these everyday items to find some calm and create a work of art.
Materials: Coffee or tea, pencil, water, brush, watercolor paper, paper towels
Who Me?
Mask making can be an imaginative way to explore how people show themselves to the world (on the outside of the mask) and how people feel (on the inside of the mask). A Japanese phrase illustrates how people have three faces. The first face is the one people show the world. The second is the face people show to family and friends, and the third is the face people never show to anyone. Use this idea about revealing our truest selves in this 10-minute video on explorative mask making.
Materials: Pre-made cardboard mask, acrylic paint (any colors), collage material (magazines, newspaper, etc.,) Mod Podge. gloss, three brushes, water, paper towels
Places and Spaces
Enjoying nature has long been a way to refuel creative tanks. In this 10-minute video, discover your inspiration outdoors. Take a 15- to 30-minute drive, walk, or bike ride with no particular place in mind. Spend time really looking at where you landed. Explore the area by using a phone or camera to take pictures. Make notes about the destination. When at home, write a story, draw a picture, or make a collage from the photos taken of where you were and what you discovered.
Materials: Phone or camera, journal or paper, pencil/pen, paints or any other medium you choose
Organize
People often ask an artist where they get their ideas. Cleaning and organizing are refreshing ways to become inspired. In this near 10-mintue video, learn how organizing can inspire creative output. Find interesting objects around your home, studio, or garage (the more unique the better) and organize these items in a variety of ways. Now, photograph the composition from different angles or draw the composition out. Print the photos and make a collage, à la David Hockney. Write how you feel about this exercise.
Materials: Any objects you find around your home, camera, pencil/pen, paper, Mod Podge (for collage), journal
