Art Process Splash the Brain: How Creativity Unleashes What Words Cannot
- emotion lab
- May 31
- 4 min read
When we speak about art, we often talk about color, form, or aesthetics. But rarely do we speak about its hidden superpower—the way the art process itself can splash open the brain, releasing what's been trapped, numbed, or forgotten. This is not about talent. This is about truth. As a graduate of Masters from Fine Arts Academy I decided to continue my studies as a PhD student since the art process was a journey of freedom and experiment - all the other worlds were too structured and predictable.
It was a matter of life and death.
🎭 Jim Carrey: When Laughter Isn’t Enough
Let’s begin with someone you wouldn’t expect.
Jim Carrey—one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood, famous for his comedic genius—hit a wall. Fame and laughter weren’t enough to shield him from the weight of depression, grief, and personal loss. In his silence, he began to paint. Truly suggest that you watch His movie “I need a color”....
He splashed bold color onto giant canvases, creating vivid emotional landscapes. He later shared, “Painting is something that happens to you… it’s a release, a purge, a response to everything I feel.”
Carrey didn’t pick up the brush to create sellable “art.” He did it to survive. To hear his own voice again, to allow the layers of pain to surface—without judgment. This is the phenomenon of art therapy…what in history was a way of relaxation and teaching new skills, that now is a way of keeping mind clear and focused, keeping the emotions expressed and felt.
That’s what this is about: to be honest with yourself and all that you feel and cannot express because of some social norms and qualities that everybody else expects to see from you.
🖌️ From Canvas to Clarity: The Silent Storm of One Woman's Life
In one of my therapeutic art masterclasses, a woman in her early 30s joined quietly. She was well-educated, elegant, and composed—the kind of person society would label as “successful.” She had been married for over 10 years, working a high-paying job, and living what many would call a dream life. But there was one aching absence: she could not get pregnant.
Despite the treatments, the tests, the emotional toll—nothing was working. She came to my sessions not knowing what to expect. She didn’t need another “solution.” She just wanted to feel something again.
For three months, she showed up, week after week. She painted. She scribbled. She sometimes sat in silence. Other times, tears ran down her cheeks as she filled her paper with colors she couldn’t name. After the lesson I got a call from her: “I can feel how the air smells, how the falling leaves…I did not notice for last 10 years.”
Then one day, she didn’t come.
A week later, she sent a message from a hospital bed. During gynecological visit, something prompted her doctor to run extra tests. What they found was a massive ovarian cyst, dangerously close to rupturing. She was immediately hospitalized, and the cyst was removed.
After her recovery, she returned to my studio and hugged me tightly.
“If I hadn’t started those sessions,” she said, “I wouldn’t have listened to my body. I would ignore the pain, push it down—until it was too late. This process… saved my life.”
🧠 What Happens in the Brain During Art Process?
Science is now catching up with what artists and survivors have known for centuries. When we create freely—without overthinking—the brain shifts gears:
The prefrontal cortex (our inner critic) quiets down.
The limbic system (our emotional center) lights up.
The default mode network—linked to self-reflection and healing—activates.
This altered state, often compared to meditation, allows the body and psyche to speak more honestly. In that space, trauma can surface. Intuition sharpens. Repressed emotion begins to move. And in some cases—like my student’s—it helps the body start to heal itself.
🌊 Why It Works: It’s Not the Painting, It’s the Process
The point isn’t to become an artist. The point is to become available to yourself.
You don’t need a background in art. You don’t need a plan. You need a brush, a page, and permission to be real.
Art doesn’t just decorate our lives. It reveals them. It reaches the hidden corners where words haven’t been enough.
So when people ask, “What’s the purpose of these sessions?” I say: “To wake up. To feel. To let the body and soul speak—to let the art splash your brain open, and show you what’s been waiting underneath.”
💬 Final Thought: The Hidden Medicine
There’s a kind of medicine that doesn’t come in pills or bottles. It comes in pigment. On paper. In the quiet moments where your hand moves faster than your thoughts.
For Jim Carrey, it was salvation. For my student, it was survival. For you—it might just be the beginning.
Kind Regards, Ance
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