The Drawing Mind: Silence Your Inner Critic and Release Your Creative Spirit

When we drew as children, we never worried about making mistakes—we took risks and trusted ourselves, and had fun in the process. But as we become adults, anxiety steps in: “Am I doing this right?” “What is expected of me?” “This is wrong!” And from drawing, we can extrapolate into the rest of our lives. The fear of making a mistake hinders us from being as creative as we could be.

Deborah Putnoi’s interactive sketchbook helps us reconnect to that open, nonjudgmental state, which she calls the “drawing mind.” Her bold, lively drawings and encouraging instructions lead you on a process of self-discovery, first reclaiming the freedom to express yourself through drawing and then learning how to take that freedom into the activities of your daily life.

Deborah Putnoi is an artist, educator, and researcher with a Masters in Education from Harvard and an advanced degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Her work has been exhibited nationally in galleries and museum settings. She is best known for her paintings and works on paper, and her work is in numerous collections. She worked at Project Zero at Harvard University with Howard Gardner and Jessica Davis and has taught and been a resident artist in public and private schools and universities. Her particular interests are using art to effect social change and finding new and unusual ways to access the creative mind.