Using painting or drawing as a release from tension isn't about technique or talent.

It's about doodling, using color, creating patterns and playing with shapes.

You could use charcoal, pencil, pen or paint and you might want to use craft items such as gliter, pipe-cleaner bits, felt, colored pens, stick-on stars and shapes.How about trying play dough or modeling clay?

The potential of art as a therapeutic tool became apparent after Word War Two, when survivors or the war used art in hospitals and rehabilitation centers to help overcome the traumas they had experienced. You can play with art as a way of releasing and calming your mind.

FREE- FORMAT ART. Take a blank sheet of paper and a collection of colored felt-tip pens. Without thinking, just spontaneously start drawing, letting your hand move wherever it wants to go.