painting as practice
when we paint, there are countless opportunities for something to “go wrong”- we have a picture in our mind, and we want to see it manifest. when there is space between our imagination and our execution, we feel something. and that feeling can be all consuming. embarrassment, shame, anxiety, doubt, anger or a mixture of it all- it can debilitate and deflate us. this is often where people who have the courage to begin stop.
in life, we experience the same. we have plans, hopes and expectations of how something should be, and when it turns out different, we are left disappointed. the more we practice making art, the more we can work with our mind and our emotions. we have an opportunity to deepen our understanding of who we are and what we believe.
learning to really fall in love with creating, comes from dropping the mind and learning how to listen deeper. many engage in wellness practices, being present, contacting our hearts, connecting with source... this is no different than working with creative energy. when we move beyond our thinking mind, there is no judge to praise or insult our work. we are simply in-flow (here-now). art is often associated with judgement. terms like “fine art” or “real artist” really fucked us. yeah, there is a skill set that can be mastered, like anything else. but similarly to other practices we show up for, not being a master is no reason to keep us from participating. the practice is the point.
when we paint, we make choices. i find this to be easiest as a feeling experience, rather than a thinking experience. when i choose a color to begin, i choose it without thought. another way to do this is to choose your color as quickly as possible. when we “go with our gut” we are informed with innate wisdom. we can continue to make choices from this place as we continue our project. this can be applied to the choices we make throughout our lives as well; usually we have the right answer inside us without needing to exhaust the mind.
it’s helpful to make art without a plan. my favorite instruction is “to just move color around". i have learned everything about art by having the courage to explore. when were kids, we learn that mixing all our colors together makes brown, not rainbow. hugely disappointing if we were banking on rainbow. but if we are just trying things, learning from what we try, there is no negative impact. it’s just brown, it’s just information.
let’s say that we’ve just unintentionally made brown. it’s tempting to throw it away, to start over or most commonly, to stop all together. the failure-feeling comes in and we feel stupid. but what if we decided *in the moment*, that it sort of looks like the trunk of a tree! the ability (and the willingness) to improvise is the most essential tool in your box. we can get bent out of shape over how our project is unfolding, or we can move with it and allow it, even help it, to be whatever it wants to be.
making art is important for your life because it shows you to yourself and gives you a private and productive work space. as the practice continues, you build a relationship with yourself that probably starts out as new, confusing and frustrating, and most likely ends up being fun, exciting and groundbreaking. making art should be done for it’s meditative and healing abilities, not for it to be "good" in the eyes of a critic.
think of yourself as the artist of your life. will you try something new without overthinking it? can you be present for the experience? will you trust your intuition has the answers for you? can you see it through it’s volatile nature and enjoy the surprises? will you choose to participate with a positive attitude and trust the process? the more we work with our creativity, the more we realize its application in everything we do.
