I’ve been holding an art night at my house on Wednesday nights.  Most of them do not consider themselves artists.  Which is silly, because ALL of us were created to CREATE.  We’re all artists.  Some of us just don’t know it yet.  At the very least art can bring you remedy, rest, and restoration.  It can go even deeper and also heal, bring transformation, and help us through transitions.  I created the Mandela above as a way to solve a problem that’s been bothering me for a couple days. Why art?  How does it work?

* The arts are the language of the soul. In a world where many cry out in pain and fear, the arts are not a luxury, but rather a necessity.

· Art is a universal language, allowing everyone to communicate, regardless of geographic distance, social inequities and cultural differences.

· Participation in the arts enhances the quality of life, especially for those who are physically or emotionally challenged, and who are isolated.

· The arts provide a natural high, a wholesome, healthy alternative for those who have found relief from pain only through drugs or alcohol.

· Through the arts people can communicate ideas and feelings that may be hard or impossible to put into words, such as memories of abuse.

· The arts facilitate the expression of otherwise frightening feelings in safe and contained ways.

· The arts increase self-esteem through mastery of media and processes, and pride in creations.

· There is no right or wrong in the arts, which make use of and express what is right with people, rather than what is wrong with them.

JUST DO ART.

(That’s my new mantra for the world.)  JUST DO ART.

Yesterday, we talked about “ Creating for the sake of Process”.  WHY and HOW?

I talked about WHY one creates for “process”:  because It has transformative powers.  It’s a means of connecting with what is inside.  It taps into a source of inner wisdom that provides guidance, allows personal growth and transformation, reduces stress, relief  from trauma or overwhelming emotions, soothes pain, bring hope and revitalizes our being. 

It’s about recovering our freedom, our natural child-like instinct to play, to invent, to listen to our intuition.

Now HOW do you do it?

Well, here’s a good place to start when using paint.

The important thing is to start.  Some colors, some water, and brush.  Give your brush a good drink of water, and choose a color.  Don’t wait.  If no color calls to you, dip in the first one you see.  You move your brush across the paper.  To create is to move into the unknown.   To Become comfortable with chaos and ambiguity, the very soil of creation.

Paint and not care if anyone recognizes what it is.  Creation does not care if you feel inspired.   That would be very limiting.  There is energy and creative potential in ALL emotional states.  As long as you have life, the potential is there.  Nothing is a mistake.  You don’t need an idea.  You just need a brush.  If you don’t know what to do, just paint.  Scribble.   Be open , courageous, take risks.   Make lots of mistakes.  It has nothing to do with result.  If you hate looking at it, don’t look.    It is an act of love and trust.  Jump naked into the deep waters of the unknown.  Dance as if no one is looking …   George Bernard Shaw said, “We do not stop playing because we grow old.  We grow old because we stop playing.”  So play and grow young again.   PLAY! •*´`*♥*´`*•ღஜღ

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Posted via email from For the Love of Beauty and Adventure!

Last night I had a group of friends over for a “art therapy” night. None of them consider themselves artists, and most have not held a paint brush in their hand their whole adult life.  (See the luscious results above.)  The point was to get free and play with child-like trust.  Sounds fun and easy, right?  Wrong, if you’re like 95% of most adults.  Just try it.  Really.

It takes courage (especially with other adults around) to allow yourself to dip a brush in some liquid color, put it on the paper, and see what happens.  That white piece of  paper can be quite intimidating for being such a wisp of a temporary material thing.  It took some laughter and time; but soon we were “painting for process”. 

There are 2 camps when it comes to creating Art:

1.  Creating for the sake of  Process, and

2.  Creating for the sake of Product.   

Most people feel it can only be one way or the other.  Not me.  I believe in and am strongly attached to both.  Both have life-giving, life-enhancing value.   However, they do come at art from completely different sides of the road….

(These thoughts apply to ART-OF-ANY-SORT, but for the sake of simplicity I will refer to only “painting” from here; interpret for yourself as needed.)

Painting as Process is the visual equivalent of journal writing, done not for the sake of being seen or published.  Purely for the telling itself.    It’s a call for Creativity and Complete Freedom to come together.          

Why would you paint/create for process?  It has transformative powers.  It’s a means of connecting with what is inside.  It taps into a source of inner wisdom that provides guidance, allows personal growth and transformation, reduces stress, relief  from trauma or overwhelming emotions, soothes pain, bring hope and revitalizes our being. 

It’s about recovering our freedom, our natural child-like instinct to play, to invent, to listen to our intuition.

There are no rules or expectations . 

No judging or criticism. 

No “shoulds” or expectations. 

It’s opening up the space to arouse your desire to create, releasing the myths of talent, inspiration, or not being good enough.   It’s vital to discovering ourselves, finding wholeness and health, it’s one of the most ancient forms of healing inner wounds.   

Art is deep and essential play.  It is therapy on a deep, inner level.

Tomorrow,  I’ll tell you  HOW to do it;  then in later blogs we’ll talk about WHY we would paint for “Product”.

Posted via email from For the Love of Beauty and Adventure!

Last night I had a group of friends over for a “play with paint” night. None of them consider themselves artists, and most have not held a paint brush in their hand their whole adult life.  (See the luscious results above.)  The point was to get free and play with child-like trust.  Sounds fun and easy, right?  Wrong, if you’re like 95% of most adults.  Just try it.  Really.

It takes courage (especially with other adults around) to allow yourself to dip a brush in some liquid color, put it on the paper, and see what happens.  That white piece of  paper can be quite intimidating for being such a wisp of a temporary material thing.  It took some laughter and time; but soon we were “painting for process”. 

There are 2 camps when it comes to creating Art:

1.  Creating for the sake of  Process, and

2.  Creating for the sake of Product.   

Most people feel it can only be one way or the other.  Not me.  I believe in and am strongly attached to both.  Both have life-giving, life-enhancing value.   However, they do come at art from completely different sides of the road….

(These thoughts apply to ART-OF-ANY-SORT, but for the sake of simplicity I will refer to only “painting” from here; interpret for yourself as needed.)

Painting as Process is the visual equivalent of journal writing, done not for the sake of being seen or published.  Purely for the telling itself.    It’s a call for Creativity and Complete Freedom to come together.          

Why would you paint/create for process?  It has transformative powers.  It’s a means of connecting with what is inside.  It taps into a source of inner wisdom that provides guidance, allows personal growth and transformation, reduces stress, relief  from trauma or overwhelming emotions, soothes pain, bring hope and revitalizes our being. 

It’s about recovering our freedom, our natural child-like instinct to play, to invent, to listen to our intuition.

There are no rules or expectations . 

No judging or criticism. 

No “shoulds” or expectations. 

It’s opening up the space to arouse your desire to create, releasing the myths of talent, inspiration, or not being good enough.   It’s vital to discovering ourselves, finding wholeness and health, it’s one of the most ancient forms of healing inner wounds.   

Art is deep and essential play.  It is therapy on a deep, inner level.

Tomorrow,  I’ll tell you  HOW to do it;  then in later blogs we’ll talk about WHY we would paint for “Product”.

Posted via email from For the Love of Beauty and Adventure!