My painting, “Eyes of Awareness” began in one of the Hide-N-Seek watercolor classes I teach.

The painting process is called “Hide-N-Seek” because I never know what the result will be. Each painting starts with an idea, sometimes a drawing, that’s hidden when texture is applied to wet paper.

This painting had no drawing.

I unravel 3-ply jute, a garden twine used to create texture. My full sheet of 300# Cold Press Arches watercolor paper is sopping wet. The texture hides a drawing or describes areas to be painted. It provides a path along which the paint moves.

As I laid the jute hap-hazardly on the paper, I explain, “this is a painting about procrastination. It’s about feeling anxious or resistant to doing something you must do, but don’t want to do.” 

My palette glistens with bright, juicy, wet colors. Lifting a 1.5” brush filled with color, I continue, “Angst doesn’t feel good. You’re all tied up in self-made knots.” 

Splat!

I swirled and threw great gobs of color, starting with yellow on much of the paper. Continuing around the color wheel, I flung oranges, reds, and pinks. The darker blues, turquoise, and purples are thrown on the bottom third of the paper — where procrastination lives — in the gut.

“Suddenly, in a burst of ‘I can’t take it anymore,’ you go ahead and do that thing that you don’t want to do.”

The cleaned brush is dipped back into the warm colors as more paint is released. Yellows, oranges, pinks even gold gouache sails through the air, arcing from the bottom melee of dark colors up toward the top of the paper in a spray of freedom. 

At this point, the paper is loaded with rich, wet colors. It looks more like a question than an answer. What will this painting look like?

“Now,” I say to the somewhat shocked class, “we wait.”

The colors fade a bit as they dry. When it’s still damp, I gently lift the jute to see if the paint moves. If it is, I leave it alone.

Once the paint no longer moves, I remove the jute. Some of the paint lifts off with the jute.

When the paper is completely dry, I begin to find the painting.

I’ll stare at it until I know what to do.

Your painting will always tell you what it needs, what to do.

Speaking isn’t our first form of communication. It takes time to learn to vocalize our thoughts —
to even realize we’re having thoughts!  

Scribbling often comes before speaking. It precedes drawing, painting, and writing, too.

Drawing (refined scribbling), painting, and writing help me verbalize my thoughts and feelings.

I recently read an interview with an artist in which the art critic asked if she considered herself a commercial or fine artist.

Ohmygoodness, the thoughts that ran through my head when I read that question!
I wrote them down to be released so I could resume my own creative journey.

This was a paradigm-shifting moment for me. (You’ll be reading more about paradigms for a while.)

This is the second painting of my Paradigm Shift Series.

 This question felt like the clash of the ancient “starving artist” paradigm and the (I hope) emerging “Living Artist” paradigm.
The one in which we don’t have to starve and die before we’re compensated or recognized for the work that we do.

Why do we insist on creating hierarchies instead of appreciating all things as they are?

Why is one form of art considered “higher” than another? One form of art might be more pleasing to you than another,
and one might have an entirely different purpose than the other.

Art is a form of communication.

Art can set the mood, the tone of your room, office, or home. It can also help connect one room to another.

Presumably, the art you put on your walls is art that you like.

That might seem like a “no-brainer,” but it’s easy to worry that you don’t know enough about art to choose the “right art” for your walls.
Whether it fits with the “décor of the day” is far less important than whether it makes you smile.

Does the image or item bring you joy? Does it tickle your fancy?

Does it pique your curiosity? Does it make you think?

Does it make you hungry (think kitchen or dining area)?

Is the image soothing or energizing? Would it work best in a bedroom or a more active living space?

Do you like the colors, the movement, or the energy in the imagery? Will it help you to feel at home?

Art can affirm something you feel about your life or that you want to feel more of in your life.

Most importantly, do your lips turn up or turn down when you look at the piece in question? 

The point is that you get to choose —
without making anyone else “wrong” in their choice.

Remember, you can always ask the artist for assistance when looking for complementary pieces.

To read more about choosing art for your or office home decor, check out this blog from Redfin.com

https://www.redfin.com/blog/artistic-home-decor-tips/

Four years ago, I began to photograph sidewalk cracks. The patterns caught my attention.

I noticed them.

Six months ago, sidewalk cracks became an obsession. Every day I noticed new patterns. It was as though the sidewalks were speaking to me.

I envisioned painting a series of “Sidewalk Moments” abstract paintings.

My practical persona chimed in, eager to paint something that could reach more people, so I waited.

Recently, I noticed heliconia in yards where I hadn’t seen them before.

Eager to paint the flowers, I decided to incorporate the sidewalks with them, thinking they’d be a neutral background allowing the showy colors to shine.

A puzzled friend asked,

”Why sidewalks?
What are you trying to say?”

I thought I was simply painting patterns until it dawned on me while talking with Mari at the Art Kiosk at the Hilton —

I’m painting stress fractures!

That’s when I realized that the cracks in the sidewalks are showing me the ways in which the fabric of life has been stressed —

for - so - very - long.

It’s true of the world as a whole,
and of each of us individually.

Stress comes from the inside and the outside; from “underneath,” through underground movements in the earth, in our thoughts, the stories we tell ourselves — and from the movements “above ground,” in our outer world.

When we grow and stretch internally, we rub up against the outside world and feel stress.

We've been under compounded, compressed stress for 14 months; we're becoming inured to it.

Not a good thing.

Self-care is crucial. Even more than self-care, we must become aware of the stories we’re telling ourselves and one another.

Are your stories helpful or hurtful?

How do you feel when you tell them?

If you’re feeling a thrill of adrenaline, you might be tapping into collective fears.

True fear is an important feeling.

Heliconia Sidewalk is currently with the photographer/printer. Soon to be found in the Abstract and Fresh Paint Florals Portfolios

It’s good to know the source of your fear.

Fears generated by stories vs. things currently present in life can be detrimental to our physical and mental well-being.

Drawing is often, though not always, the foundation of a painting.

If you want your painting to closely resemble your subject, you’ll sketch or draw it before you apply paint to paper.

Sketching refers to a loose, unfinished drawing meant to give you an idea of the placement and general shapes involved.

Drawing refers to a closer representation of your subject, with or without details.

The act of drawing sensitizes your hand/eye coordination and hones your ability to see what’s really before you.

Drawing is a way to develop “Sherlock Holmesian” superpowers of observation and discovery.

Whenever you learn anything, receptivity is a prerequisite.

Open to expanding your sense of self and your abilities.

When drawing or painting, slowing down and moving your awareness from head to heart is a great place to start.

As technology continues to speed up access to our world, we’ve been speeding up right along with it.

Consciously slowing your awareness when drawing and painting is a gift to yourself, and to those around you.

Grounding yourself with a few deep, cleansing breaths before you start your creative endeavor is a calming way to begin.

One of my college drawing instructors once said,

“You each have 100,000 bad drawings inside of you, the sooner you get them out onto paper, the sooner you’ll get to the good ones.”

It takes time to sharpen your drawing or painting skills.

It’s time well spent!

While doing so, you’ll be practicing a form of open-eyed, mindful meditation.

Drawing and painting are my favorite ways to meditate — actually, along with walking, they’re the only ways I meditate!