Fluid materials are known to inherently stimulate affective expressive responses. El Duende is a form of process painting that is known to illicit reflective, imaginative, reformative, and expressive creation that involves a series of meaningful undoing and doing processes that encourage problem-solving and redefining how we view content. As I think of this process, I find myself making a connection between a population of adults with bipolar and related disorders. For those diagnosed with bipolar disorder, experience a predisposition to emotional highs and lows, experiencing episodes of mood swings, some experiencing depressive episodes, at times experiencing mania shifts that can impede sleep, energy, judgment, and one’s ability to think clearly. When I think of this population some of the goals to come to mind would be increased emotional awareness, positive emotion regulation, integration of emotions, improved comprehension of their own and others emotional responses, and acceptance of their emotional experience. Lisa Hinz writes, “the affective component of the ETC, therapists support the more deliberate expression of feelings by giving explicit directives that help clients access emotions, by offering fluid materials, and by encouraging the use of vivid colors” (Hinz, p. 91, 2020). The affective qualities and paint and the reflective nature of the el denude process could be powerful for a population that at times cannot identify or control emotions. Michelle Dean writes about the fluidity of paint stating “Paint, with its fluidity and ability to create layers of color, hues, transparent light, and building of depth, allows a meditative process, utilizing the liquid medium to transport one into the aqueous fluidity of unconsciousness” (Dean, p.98, 2016). Using this process with someone with bipolar and related disorders could offer a space for the positive exploration of emotions and identify how emotions look or feel in the present moment.
One quality of process painting that stands out its ability to capture moments using photographs of the progress and process. This pausing of the process encourages a challenge to alter the image and let go of pieces that were present before. I think the traditional process of El Duende constructed within a long-term relationship with a clinician could provide support during the challenges and changes that emerge throughout this process. Immersing myself within the painting process, I often had to stop myself from continuing and chose to observe the process and change I had made. The El Duende has a reforming and reframing property that brings the artist and clinician into a perceptual component or conceptualizing and understanding the affective process and how symbols and understanding may emerge within the everchanging fluid process.
Click on the image below to see the process behind this "Process Painting" :
References
Hinz, L. D. (2020). Expressive therapies continuum: A framework for using art in therapy. New
York, NY: Routledge.
Michelle L. Dean. (2016). Using art media in psychotherapy : Bringing the power of creativity
to practice. Routledge.