Friday, November 19, 2010

Healing With Paint

As the name of this blog suggests, my interest in art tends to have a healing quality to it and today's project is a shining example of this.

I've been sick for about a week now. I have a sinking suspicion it was brought on by my lack of self care that has been going on for me lately, a little message from my body telling me to take care of myself.

The illness actually culminated in a complete loss of my voice. I was having a bad day when my dear friend sent me an email with some notes from Louise Hay's book, You Can Heal Your Life. Now I have this book but I don't always think to open it up and explore it so I was completely grateful that Carrie had the smarts to see what I couldn't.

She sent me the issues surrounding the throat and some positive affirmations related to it. She encouraged me to see what resonated and to repeat them to boost my healing. Of course I knew that was a great idea and I felt like I wanted to step it up a notch especially since the issues related to the throat can be about stifling creativity. What better way to get my creativity flowing than to pick up my paint brush?

I knew I would have to use the techniques I read about in the book Painting From the Source if it was going to be meaningful. I took pictures along the way and I am going to share them with you here.

I started by writing the affirmations on my canvas. I wanted to set my intention to connect to my throat and what was going on.



From there I took my watercolor crayons and started coloring over the page. I wet a paintbrush with water and started blending the shades of blue and red. I added some paint and I even got my fingers in there and imprinted my fingerprints into the paint.



Then I started adding white paint and allowing it to drip from center. I didn't know why but I knew it felt right.



I continued the dripping technique with a vibrant blue.



And then some Payne's gray and red.


To be honest, around this point I started to get a little bored with all the dripping paint which I knew was a signal to move on. I sat and looked at the painting, asking it what it needed but I was coming up blank. I suspected that I needed a break and decided I would meditate for a while.

After about 30 minutes of the most amazing and powerful meditation I've had in a long time, I went back to my painting and painted a white orb in the center.

At this point I got into such a zone that I forgot to take a picture. I actually painted the orb iridescent gold and got out my gold gel pen and put in small dots radiating out from the center. I have to tell you, it took my breath away. I was so pleased with the way it turned out. I propped it up to get a good look at it and I knew it wasn't completed.

I started painting more circles emanating from the center orb and immediately I got this sinking feeling. I had ruined my beautiful painting and that's when I realized I hadn't even taken a picture of it. I was so disappointed. Well, I remember something I read in the Painting From Source book that said, if it looks ugly make it uglier. So that is the attitude I took.

I kept painting and painting in a sort of zone and when I finished I knew that the painting was complete. I felt it. It was perfect. Not because it is a masterpiece but because it is deep and personal and came from my soul.



It is filled with sparkling gold and glitter and shines in the light. It makes me feel good inside when I look at it.

Was I miraculously physically healed?

No.

Am I getting better?

Yes.

Am I healed in some deep way that I don't even quite understand?

Absolutely!

1 comment:

  1. Love the progression of this piece--there really is something special about art and you capture it in this post. I sure hope you're feeling much better today! :)

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