2024 Work
Inspired by this work the themes for 2024 are:
* Focus
* Strength
* Wings
We invite you to select a theme that inspires you! One entry per theme or three entries on one theme – please check the terms and conditions and mark your diary – the closing date is 31st August.
Please check How it Works
Please use this form to submit your work and see terms and conditions
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A submission under the STRENGTH theme:
Title: You Give Me Strength
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size: 21cm x 29.7 cm A4
Theme: Strength
Rachel Randle has submitted this work independently. She says: I have painted my cats as they are a source of strength for me when I’m struggling. It doesn’t matter how I’m doing or what mood I’m in they will be there without judgement to play, encourage me to get outside and nudge me into getting up on time for their breakfast. Painting helps to calm me when I’m feeling overwhelmed. It helps me to release anxious restless energy in a positive creative way.
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A submission under the WINGS theme:
Title: Moving Over
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size: A3
Theme: Wings
Billie is from Derbyshire and has submitted this work independently. She says: Art is a meditative practice for me
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A submission under the WINGS theme:
Title: Hidden Wings
Medium: Acrylic on paper.
Size: 21 cm x 29.7 cm A4
Theme: Wings
Rachel Randle from Hertfordshire has submitted this work independently – she says: My painting shows pairs of moths and butterflies from different angles. I got the idea from spending time outside watching moths and butterflies and noticing how different their wings looked and the different colours when they were still and flying. I find art helps to lift my mood especially when I’m painting nature. It also helps to calm me when I’m feeling overwhelmed by giving me a creative outlet for restless anxious energy and something positive to focus on.
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A submission under the WINGS theme:
Title: Wings of the rainbow
Medium: Ink on paper
Size: A4
Theme: Wings
Mark attends the Braintree Rethink Art Group and was encouraged by members in the group to take part again. He says: Attending the group and being part of it helps me cope with my mental health.
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A submission under the WINGS theme:
Title: Flight of the Night
Medium: Acrylics on paper
Size: A4
Theme: Wings
Lorraine Hempstead has submitted this work as part of Braintree Rethink Art Group she attends. She says: I like attending the group because I have made friends there and it helps my mental health.
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A submission under the STRENGTH theme:
Title: Eye of Strength
Medium: Pencil on Paper
Size: A4
Theme: Strength
Yvonne Taylor has submitted this work as part of her Braintree Rethink Art Class. She says: I have visual impairment but still can be creative with the support I get from members.
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Submitted under the WINGS theme:
Title: A Wing in Sight
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: A4
Theme: Wings
Emily Mansfield-Bray from Essex has a diagnosed mental health condition. She is a new member of the Braintree Rethink Art Group and she says Art helps me relax and I can talk to people like myself.
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A submission under the WINGS theme:
Title: Guardian
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size: A4
Theme: Wings
Another work from Beckie Marshall from Essex who has submitted this work as part of an Art Class she attends.
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A submission under the FOCUS theme:
Title: To the Unknown
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: A4
Theme: Focus
Beckie Marshall is a new member of the Braintree Rethink Art Group – she says: I have only recently started at Art Group and they told me all about this fabulous project. It is so relaxing and made some lovely friends. Art eases me and helps make the troubles go away for a time.
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A submission under the WINGS theme:
Title: In Prayer
Medium: acrylic on paper
Size: A4
Theme: Wings
Kelle Lomas from Colchester attends the Braintree Rethink Art Group and has taken part in the project regularly.
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A submission under the STRENGTH theme:
Title: Love and Positivity
Medium: Pen & acrylic on paper
Size: A4
Theme: Strength
Kelle Lomas (43) says: I attend the Braintree Rethink Group and creating art there really helps my mental health – Art calms me down.
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A submission under the FOCUS theme:
Title: Where’s the ladybird?
Medium: Watercolour, watercolour pencils on paper
Size: A4
Theme: Focus
Rachel Randle is from Hertfordshire. She says: The ladybird in the painting shows how focusing on all the details of something small in nature helps me when I’m feeling overwhelmed or anxious. The painting also symbolises how I struggle with focusing and concentration where the ladybird is the thought I’m trying to focus on and the leaves and flowers are everything else stopping me focusing.
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A submission under the theme: FOCUS
Title: Focus in Strength
Medium: Pencil on paper
Size: A4
Theme: Focus
Faith (22) has sent in this piece as she attends the Braintree Rethink Art Group. She says:
Since I started the Braintree Rethink Art Group it’s given me purpose to build confidence
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Another submission under the theme: FOCUS
Title: Focus on getting to Art
Medium: Pencil on paper
Size: A4
Theme: Focus
Jacob (25) is a member of an Art Group and this is his first submission. He says:
Since I started the Braintree Rethink Art Group it’s given me purpose to get confidence.
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A submission under the FOCUS theme:
Title: Focus on the light
Medium: Watercolour and coloured pencils on paper
Size: A4
Theme: Focus
Nic Henderson (45) from Flintshire has submitted this work independently – she says: When I have had moments of darkness in my life, I focus on the light. For me light is about being optimistic and hopeful and looking for positive ways to get through hard times. Even a tiny ray of light can get me through.
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A submission under the WINGS theme:
Title: Fight or Flight
Medium: Watercolour and coloured pencils on paper
Size: A4
Theme: Wings
This work is by Nic Henderson (45) from Flintshire who says: Art is something I have always done but rarely share with an audience. I love being creative, particularly with watercolour, because it lets me make mistakes without judgement. The process of being creative is the part I enjoy most. I quite often don’t finish a piece because I have scratched the itch. The dragon is often depicted as something evil but I see them as a symbol of mystery and magic. Mythology and magic help me to escape the mundane of everyday life.
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A submission under the WINGS theme:
Title: Angel
Medium: Acrylics on canvas board, rose gold mica added to wings with acrylic gloss topcoat
Size: A3
Theme: Wings
Amy (37) from the Braintree Rethink Art Group says: Art has helped me – having a creative outlet for feelings and emotions that are difficult to express. I’ve since found out childhood trauma can effect how you cope later on in life when you need to cope as an adult, I never got out of survival mode when learning emotional regulation in my early years and struggle with emotion disregulation now.
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A submission under the theme FOCUS
Title: The Colours of Madness
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 30cm x 40cm
This is a first contribution from Minna (29) from London. Minna says: I painted this to represent my thoughts and feelings whilst I was going through a dark patch of depression and had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital. I remember feeling lost, alone, scared and hopeless, like I was on a different planet to everyone and everything else. I felt like I was watching the world going by from afar – a world that was unfamiliar and foreign to me, with people I did not recognise and places I had never been to before. I could see the different colours and nebulous shapes of life and objects, all moving around and being sucked into a black hole of hopelessness. I remember feeling like I was standing on the edge of an obscure planet, unsure of where I was, what I was seeing and what I was supposed to do.
Going through a mental health crisis can feel overwhelming, terrifying, confusing, strange, lonely and deserting, which this painting tries to depict. Art provides a channel to allow one to escape these dark thougths and a conduit to communicate with the outside world in a powerful and unique way.
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Another submission under the theme STRENGTH
Title: Hidden Strength
Medium: Watercolour brush pens on watercolour paper
Size: A4
As a regular contributor since the Project’s inception here Raven says: Sometimes our past is our hidden strength that is invisible on the surface that’s why it is so important to share it, so people can see how far you’ve come on this journey of life. We grow through what we go through sums it up simply.
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A submission under the theme WINGS
Title: Angel of Hope
Medium: Gouache,bronze acrylic paint on watercolour paper
Size: A4
Kaz says: this the angel of hope, she’s a symbol of all the good we see others do in the world even though at times, they are the ones that need the help themselves.
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The first submission under the theme STRENGTH is from Jennifer Masterman.
Title: Helping Hands
Medium: Coloured pencils on paper
Size: 110cm across and 38cm down
Jennifer (38) from Dudley says: Art helps me to remain calm and work through my feeling and problems. This work is currently exhibited on the wall in hospital I went to recently at Russell’s Hall Dudley.
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Our first submission under the theme FOCUS is from Kaz Raven who has supported the InFinnity Project since inception.
Title: Calmascope
Medium: A4 watercolour paper and watercolour brushpens
Theme: Focus
Kaz comments that she has submitted this under the focus theme as art doodling and colouring is our way to bring our self to a place of calm and focus