The second picture I did in the Painting Alive! class I took (see June 9th’s post for details). Much less thought, more just painting from intuition and body.
Painting makes me happier than anything else I do. I believe it’s the wordless state that I get in, something so rare for me. And I feel. I’m hoping my body someday will feel like a safe place. The physical world has always been a challenge. Perhaps due to left-handedness, a difficult birth, parents who hated their own bodies and obsessed with safety. I’m not sure it matters anymore, but negotiating the physical was the hardest part of growing up. Sometimes walking and talking is hard (really), or knowing which hand to use. I break the lead of every mechanical pencil I’ve ever used. Yoga makes me edgy. But when I paint, I feel my heart open, my head clear, and I feel free.
Comments on: "Art From the Body" (7)
I was attracted to your post by your use of color… it’s great and I can relate to feeling free when I paint.
Thank you, Rachel. Color is so important. I feel it’s like vitamins for me.
Most definitely– color is like vitamins…
Brilliant colours. I like it very much. Cheered up the rainy day for me.
I’m so happy you’ve learned to paint this way! And that it gives you much pleasure. I have two daughters who are great painters – the youngest especially paints from somewhere deep, deep inside. It’s amazing what can come out when creativity is sourced like that. And she’s almost 30 and has never lost the ability. As for me, I can paint your portrait perfectly! But painting FROM the body? Haven’t yet mastered it. It’s how I write, however
Thank you so much. In Costa Rica now without my computer (using hotel’s). Wanting to get started again on a novel but pen and paper just doesn’t do it for me. Somehow the pathways are tied into keyboards.
That’s so interesting! I love pen and paper – it’s when I do some of my best creative writing. If I write on my computer, I’m more likely to be academically oriented. So interesting – like ‘writing from the body’ in a way, for me at least.