“This is one of the safest places I’ve ever experienced.” V.F.
“This is wild shit! You never know what gifts may come. The painting answered is the prayer. The prayer answered is the painting.” V.F.
“It’s such a relief to see that there is a natural healing process which happens when I pick up the paintbrush, drop into my body, and let the journey just happen. It reaffirms to me that “I” don’t have to figure everything out with my mind……that there is safety in letting go.” JB
“This painting..I never know what I’m going to paint. I don’t even know how to paint/ But when I open to the way my body wants to move, somehow emotions arise and painting happens. It also allows all my fears to come forward to be greeted and welcomed into the whole of me.” WL
The next 2 painting groups begin on February 16 and February 17. Experience joy, come paint!
A person came to painting group who, I discovered upon talking with her during painting time, is extremely hard on herself. Her father was quite critical of her, and she, as a child, just swallowed all of his harshness into herself and believed all the words. In the painting process, she was judgmental towards what she was doing much of the time. Sometimes, she would cry after realizing just how critical she had become. She’d take a step back, take a deep breath, and go back into the painting with more gentleness and softening.
Finally, she had had enough, and she just let go. No planning, no trying, just painting, which for her at that moment, looked like smushing the colors together. She found some freedom here. And, at the very last moments, she took a piece of paper, and glued it on top of the painting. The painting really did take on a feeling of looseness. Sometimes, we have to clear what’s in the way, fully engage with it, before letting go happens.
I met with a friend last night who is a sculptor. Her interest is in making molds of birds that are endangered, especially of vultures.
Last night she told me a story. She was watching a PBS special on vultures in Africa. A woman was being interviewed that runs a sanctuary in Africa. My friend was riveted. After watching the show, she went online and got information about where this sanctuary was , and who to contact. She went online and began a correspondence with the woman who runs this place. To make a long story short, my friend has bought her ticket to Africa. She will be molding vultures, eagles, and perhaps other birds that are being saved especially for her.
My friend trusted her intuition, took action, and a large risk. She followed her passion up to the very last detail. It takes alot of courage to do this.
What is calling to you? Where do you need to trust and act? What will you do, as Mary Oliver states, with your one precious and wild life?
One of the things that makes art-making so healing is that we “forget” to think about ourselves! Art-making, bringing attention to images, takes the focus off of our usual self-obsession. This is usually felt as a gigantic relief. Hours go by, and where have we been? We don’t know, we’ve been so immersed, that we’ve been outside of time as we know it. The “I”, with it’s usually constant self-reflection, doubt, worry, and just plain imagining the future, slows down, and with it, thoughts slow down, too. I believe that it is this slowing down, and caring or paying attention to something else besides the contents of our thinking, that gives us a cool drink of water, a pleasant refresher.
When talking about image-making and images with a friend over tea, I admitted that I don’t look for meaning when I make my art. How ironic we laughed that, as an art therapist, I keep quiet when it comes to my own work. My friend said that she understands this. She stated, “We as artists are usually the keeper of the secrets.” Ah, I liked that term immediately. How fun words can be to play with!
We are such keepers of the secrets, I stated, and sometimes, we don’t even know what secrets we’re keeping. Perhaps the art itself plays hide and seek with us., sometimes revealing itself fully, sometimes not. Whatever the case, though, we hold as sacred both what we know, and what we don’t, just being pleased and honored to keep the mystery and aliveness of the images close by.
