I am currently nearing the end of my second week of my “Paintacation”. (My self coined word for a Painting Vacation). It has been a rough year, and this was definitely the best thing I could have done for myself.
It has taken this class to remind me there are no mistakes in art. Art is a Process. Letting go and allowing myself to simply enjoy the process is one of many things I have been learning.
There are currently 7 new 30″ x 40″ paintings in various stages of creation. Along with a few 12″ x 12″ pieces, because the instructor, Flora Bowley, believes in being green and using up all your paint. So new canvases are constantly started with the left over paint.
I had never given this much thought, but what a great way to start a canvas…with absolutely no preconceived ideas of where it was going. Rather just a few moments of playing with what paint is left.
That is how they begin, and all of the canvases go through amazing metamorphoses, from layers of just a few colors of paint, to words painted across them. Some of mine have at one time or another sported the words “Believe”, “Trust”, “Let Go”, and “Be Brave”. Strong words, but just scribbles on a canvas. Other than as temporary reminders, they are just a part of a larger picture, and will most likely be covered in more layers. Each layer being large in it’s impact, but just a small part of the process.
This was something I had let myself forget. That Art is a Verb, too. It took a Professor Emeritus from the college of Fine Art at CSU to convince me of that years ago. And I had forgotten. If Flora had not come along, I would still be constantly looking at everything I do as the end result first. As what is wrong with a painting, rather than what is right.
Now I am looking at these pieces as parts of a process. A wonderful, fun, intuitive dance that doesn’t allow for stress, or worry, or thoughts of failure. It is a place of total freedom, joy, and evolution.
Slowly, the paint on the canvases is beginning to show images waiting to emerge. Some have begun already. But in the meantime, this wonderful artistic dance I am participating in, is exactly what I needed. It is a little like cloud watching, all day long. But where one can actually manipulate the colors of the clouds, and join in their dance.
It is in it’s purest form “Art”, as the process of creating. A verb if you will. And there are no mistakes in it.
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Have a wonderful day! ~ Cyd
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