Recipe for Art: Tree of Life

Sometimes during a flare or especially painful lesions, those of us with HS are stuck in a loop of depression and inactivity. Art helps us to process our feelings and reprogram our brains better than any marathon of movies or TV shows can. Art is personal, not perfect, and the goal of this piece is not perfection.

The "Tree of Life" allows you to concentrate on details on the page and away from the pain and depression caused by HS. You will focus on drawing and filling in curves, designing leaf shapes, creating color schemes, and thinking about nature. I use colored pencils, but you can use crayons, pastels, watercolors, colored pens, pens, and lead pencils, or any other medium you have access to. This is your tiny project. This exercise will only take a few minutes; if you don't like the outcome, try again and do something different.