A process painting takes shape. This is one woman’s process in a recent “Summer Saturday”. We painted from 10am to 5pm with a nice lunch break, and lovely conversation and sacred circle. We were a group of five women, all willing to see what would happen if we brought ourselves to the paint and paintbrush. We gather in safe, creative space—it’s amazing what shows up–If we just let it! This painter hadn’t painted since she was very young, and perhaps that was finger painting. Enjoy!
Some people bring in a question: In this situation the painter was wanting to take a step in life into new territory. She found herself grappling with a threshold in her life. So she brought the question to her painting.
Once she had the question out there, she let the question go in a way. She let the painting have its way. Not controlling, not knowing, just painting.
As she continued to paint, the threshold arrives, there is a feeling of a boundary to cross,. She is aware that she wants to cross that boundary!
More movement, words, She is interested in the yellow “vessel” (in her words)
Flames arrive, threshold remains, no idea what to do, she just kept painting….
Fire. A vessel. Flames. What now? So much energy is stirring. All kinds of questions surface.The painter feels briefly nauseous. She can’t hold the many questions anymore she just paints from her body, who she is in this moment. She just knows that she has to change the painting, it is not at a resting spot. She needs to go for it.
The images shift; she tells me that she experiences that “the vessel becomes the flames”. And she knows she is through the painting for now. She has arrived at a new place. And there is much to harvest from the painting and the process!