Drawing Makes You Sexier
Elaine Clayton
Drawing is one of the most sensual and provocative endeavors, and stream drawing is one of the sexiest ways to create. Stream drawing is sexy because it puts a fine point on your focus and is an expression of the mysterious life force within you. Your pencil skims the paper, whispering seductively as you let your impulse guide you as to where the line will go, and what kinds of marks will develop — curving, rounded and jagged shapes? You draw what you feel like in that moment and it is surprising — also sexy. You get a strong sensation of self-will and yet, an opening, an expansion of empathy and enthusiasm for emotional delicacy. And as you draw what you feel like, you enter a kind of sub-conscious daydream while doing it, which is a very romantic place to be (stream drawing is short for “stream of consciousness drawing”). How often do we allow ourselves to get that way — day-dreamy and creative and open and receptive and fun? Aren’t we mostly on task, running around meeting deadlines or doing things that bore us (errands, bills, etc) wishing we were not subjected to whatever it is we are doing? So in an ordinary day, we have for the most part, over many years, easily lost our wild sense of creative genius. We once had it, that streak of pure-bliss-in-action, so how can we get it back? By taking up stream drawing…
So how does this stream drawing work? Easy — by re-grasping your inner spark — it is the inner spark that makes life a “turn on”. Look back to innocence in childhood — -you knew a blank wall when you saw one, just waiting for something to happen to it. That toddler that you once were had the life force energy so powerfully, you innately knew how to act with gusto without even thinking and made your vibrant marks with ecstatic shrieks, most likely. And you probably got in trouble for it — for not thinking — and for coloring up a wall. That sense of freedom, the burst of imagination and physical expression was probably deemed kinda bad, wrong, forbidden. Or marking up the wall and its consequences put some inhibitions on your notion of super joyous mark making.
This innate power — evident in freely making marks — that you have within you to seize life (being sexy is not always about sex per se, it is more about being sensual, open, vibrant, sure and eager to live fully) is put out like a damp candle early on in life. You had glimmers of getting it back, that inner bright light — maybe art class in school or summer camp. But most of us stopped drawing at about age 7 when “the age of reason” struck us cold. And society did not tolerate a day dreaming child who was staring out the windows or drawing a portrait of the teacher with her faint little mustache — and getting caught, during math (take it from me — but it looked just like her!). We also pretty quickly understood that drawing was not valuable or had no real point to it unless what we drew looked “just like” an object rendered well. But rendering is not what we are talking about. We want to go to the raw and burgeoning sense of great originality that is at your core.
If you feel you have somewhat or very much lost the new and genuine, spontaneous spirit of that life force that urges you on to make your life feel amazing, you need to get into the mood of joy and to feel abundance in your veins as you create. Stream drawing allows this because it is easy, exciting and stirs up our feelings and desires. It is a great way to fall in love with life again. And to fall in love with who we are at our most essential core. That is in itself very sexy.
Here’s how to steam draw:
Get a pencil, a piece of paper (anything — white typing paper is fine). Close your eyes while you hold the pencil in your non-dominant hand (that’s right, the hand you do not use for writing or drawing — this is because if you use the hand you normally use, you will be stiff and unkind to yourself — you will stop drawing and you will open your eyes and try to control it by criticizing yourself — not sexy — you deserve better!). Start drawing one continuous line on the paper (keep your eyes closed) and let the pencil meander all over the page — let the line explore. You might get a strong sensation of skating on a frozen pond or like a bird flying over mountains, into valleys, looping and dipping, swaying and suddenly diving, perhaps. Draw like this for as long as it feels good — maybe a minute. Then open your eyes.
You’ll say what they’ve all said since you started drawing as a child — that it is a “doodle”, a “scribble”. Yet those labels miss out on the momentum you just started — a glorious creative, intuitive momentum that will only build as you embrace this fierce energy through your direction of the pencil on paper. This is no scribble — this is a stream drawing and a portal to your sensual, creative spirit.
Turn the paper over or get a new one and keep stream drawing, do many. Notice how you feel letting go of control and how good it feels to just coast along with drawing (eyes closed, non-dominant hand). When you feel like it, you can start gazing at the drawings to see what you see in them. You can even ask questions seeking answers (keep it light at first — ask about the person you have a crush on). After practicing this a while, you can go even deeper. I have done intuitive stream drawing readings on behalf of clients’ questions for many years now, and they are a serious bit of intuitive guidance — they help us see what we may need to see in order to become more conscious and more deliberate about our choices, dreams and actions. And you know what? Living a conscious, creative life — well, that’s very sexy, too. Try it.
Elaine Clayton is an author, artist, intutive reader and Reiki Master. She is the author of several books for children and books for adults on spiritual themes including MAKING MARKS: Discover the Art of Intuitive Drawing (Simon and Schuster).
