Recommended Supplies for Online Art Therapy

Attending an online art therapy session from home can be convenient and accessible. All you need is a computer or tablet, strong Internet connection and some art supplies. You do not need to purchase anything fancy. Stores like Dollarama or Dollar Tree have a good selection of supplies and will be significantly less expensive than purchasing from Michaels, Opus or DeSerres. To get started with online art therapy, I suggest collecting at least 2 dry/controlled materials, 1 wet/fluid material, white copy paper and a container. Other paper products, joiners/dividers and 3D materials are fun additions, but not necessary for art therapy sessions.

Dry/Controlled Materials

These are art supplies that are usually very familiar, easy to use and produce very little mess. These materials are often used to create marks, outlines, shapes and images. Materials might include:

• Pencil and eraser

• Felt pens and markers

• Wax crayons

• Coloured pencils

  • Have a pencil sharpener on-hand when using graphite or coloured pencils

    
    

Wet/Fluid Materials

These are art supplies that are messier and difficult to use to create clean lines. Fluid materials often have rich colour pay-off and can be used to fill a page quickly. Materials might include:

• Oil or chalk pastels (Mungyo Gallery soft oil pastels are my absolute favourite!)

• Acrylic, gouache or watercolour paint

  • You will also need paintbrushes, a cup of water and paper towels if you are using paint

    
    

Paper

Any type of paper you have on hand works for art therapy sessions. Preferably, paper is unlined so that your creation is the main focus. If you are using wet/fluid materials, you may benefit from thicker paper like cardstock, multi-media paper or watercolour paper. You may also want to collect paper products for making collages, such as:

• Tissue paper or wrapping paper

• Coloured and patterned paper

• Magazine cut-outs, printed images, book pages or photographs

  
  

Joiners/Dividers

Joiners and dividers are supplies used to transform one thing into something new - scissors, tape and glue! Your hands are also a pretty effective divider for ripping, crumpling and squishing.

3-Dimensional Materials

Clay, plasticine, yarn, cardboard, feathers, shells, beads, googly eyes, pom poms and pipe cleaners can be interesting additions to art therapy sessions and often lead to nostalgic play. Having 3D materials on hand can be helpful for physical grounding during your session. I like to keep a pack of modelling clay nearby to squish in my palm while talking.

Your Container

Find a container to keep your art supplies tidy and easy to grab before your online art therapy sessions. This could be a shoebox, pencil case, basket, tote bag or desk drawer. Add a folder to your container so you can keep all of your artwork together and secure. The art that you make in therapy is a reflective tool that records your progress and growth. Keeping it in the same place ensures that we can look back at it when we need to.

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Have more questions about online art therapy? Book a complimentary phone call with Elspeth to determine if online art therapy is a good fit for you.

This blog post is a collaboration with Cassandra Evans at Nirivia Counselling. The materials guide is adapted from Nona Orbach at The Good Enough Studio.