Creative Meditation Color Theory: Red-Insight Timer Live

You paint with red; do you know why? Has your selection of blue, or vermillion, been done in conscious consideration to what you are trying to say in paint? Join these Monday talks to explore more deeply, choices made in expressing depth of Self. Followed by creative exercise & meditation.

Transcript

As I always say,

I'm here for the live.

I come here just to see everybody and carry on this conversation.

Is this a conversation?

Keep this space open to us all.

Yeah,

It's good.

I'm going to go ahead and start.

Now we haven't been here together for quite a while.

So let's take a moment to regroup.

Let's synchronize ourselves to this space that we're all in together again.

How about close your eyes.

Breathe deeply in and out.

And in.

And out.

I don't know if you are all aware,

But on the in breath that's our energizing.

That's sending oxygen to all our cells and waking them up.

And that exhale is a relaxation.

It's releasing and expelling and relaxing.

So one more time.

Deep breath in and out.

And recall the last time you were here.

The brush you held,

The canvas you stood before,

The palette you employed,

And us.

The myriad hearts and hands that gathered then and now we gather again.

Thank you.

For the record,

I honestly can't remember what we were doing last time we gathered.

Not the very last time.

I have like a conglomeration of all of it.

So for the next seven Mondays,

We're looking at color theory.

What do colors say to you in your creative practice?

So this is before the brush.

And I'm Patricia Baldwin-Sagerbrook.

I created this space to bring consciousness to creative meditation.

Because I believe that my greatest healing and connection and community,

Communion,

Happens when I'm holding my brush.

Now of course that's not true for everyone.

We all have our own unique space where we make those connections to divine,

To each other,

To those ever important relationships.

But for me,

Creative meditation is one of the most profound spaces that speaks to my life.

So I created this space to share it with you.

Because you can't be in community alone.

But to show up and bring all your energy and respond in the way that you can.

So the hearts.

Fantastic.

The follows and shares are so important.

And of course donations.

Insight Timer survives on donations and so do we as teachers.

We receive 50% of those donations in Insight Timer,

The other 50% in order to keep the whole platform running as smoothly and beautifully as it does.

So thank you for everything and anything you can do to be part of this inner meshed,

Here I go,

Interwoven tapestry.

If you've been here before I use that analogy a lot.

This tapestry of up-leveling the consciousness of goodness and meditation and creativity and contemplation in that interior life before we step into the exterior.

Rather than vice versa.

Alright,

Shall we begin?

For the next seven Mondays we're looking at color theory.

What do colors say to you in your creative practice?

It is not about what you know.

It is about where you go from what you know.

How's that for a small twist with a big hint?

It's not about what you know.

It's about where you go from what you know.

We can come here,

This studio table fully equipped with an arsenal of information about color in creating our art.

But I'm doing this these Mondays to try something new.

To myself first and then y'all as well to see with new eyes and touch with fresh fingertips the color we have come to use,

I have come to use,

In habituated ways.

As I said,

I'm personally here in this way in my own art.

Over and over I'm constantly digging for that new meaning and depth,

Understanding and connection with myself to my art but also with the message I'm trying to then feed to my viewers.

I find that in sharing the exploration I myself am going through,

Of course here with all of you,

It's the stuff I want to learn.

When I choose to share it and attempt as I am now and in these next six Mondays after this,

Attempt to expound on it,

That it drives the experience to new depths for myself.

That's my aim,

That's my goal and that's my motivation.

It's what I do in all of Before the Brush but of course specifically for this exploration of color here now.

That is my aim.

And for the record,

This isn't the university course,

It's no way an exhaustive study of color theory.

Neither is it even the angle traditional color theory teaches.

You can find heaps of all that information online.

I did when I started researching to continue this education if you desire and by all means please do.

There's a plethora of information about colors that you don't know.

You don't know until you start looking and you trust what you're Googling.

I am choosing and because again as I said this is where I'm going myself I'm choosing this concentration all these next seven Mondays to be about exploration around the spiritual and energetic resonance of color.

Each day's talk will wrap with a creative meditation on each specific Monday's color and if you'd like to begin pulling your stuff together today,

For today we're starting with red.

Imagine that.

That good old Roy G.

Biv.

Whatever you want.

We're just going to do five minutes.

If you've got a brush with a pot of paint,

Your pastels,

A marker a crayon,

Go there.

If you're a teacher and you have a red pencil Alright,

So red it is.

Red resonates emotional vibrations of vibrancy,

Passion,

Vitality.

It speaks to life blood,

Anger,

Volatility,

Danger.

Red,

Thanks to its long wavelength,

Google it,

Is the most visible color on the spectrum.

As I said that,

Roy G.

Biv of the rainbow.

Red,

Orange,

Yellow,

Green blue,

Indigo,

And violet.

So what meanings have we given to red,

We humans?

You human.

How do you first think of this color?

Is it the command of a red stoplight?

Is it the allure of a crimson dress?

Could it be the political statement behind a candidate's red power tie?

Does red's meaning relate to the shiny back to school apple?

Or the pop of a juicy ripe tomato?

It's tomato season here in the US.

Or the satin bows tied to spruce bows at Christmas time?

Whether it's clothing,

Food,

Or holiday decorations,

Red's meanings surround us and excite us.

Red speeds up the heart rate,

Blood flow,

And body temperature.

Red stimulates our senses of smell and tastes,

Makes us more sensitive to our environment.

Red also stimulates the adrenal gland,

Making us more prone to take action and give us more energy.

Red is a physical stimulant.

It stands for many things,

All of them potent.

But red can hold a deeper meaning when applied to the color selections in painting.

And when we come to understand some of these things,

We use color more consciously,

And therefore impactfully in relaying the message of our art.

Colors shape the way we interact with the world around us.

The psychological association with certain colors makes us feel in a certain way,

And act in a certain way.

They can associate us to negative and to positive feelings,

Which shape then how we view the world.

These are complex statements that I'm compartmentalizing very quickly here.

But give it the contemplation that it deserves now and as the week plays out.

That's why I'm not doing seven days in a row,

Or doing one a week for seven weeks.

Give them the contemplation that they deserve.

Let that color red come to your consciousness all week long,

Not just as you're in the studio,

But when you're going about your day.

And think about some of these things.

Think about that consciousness,

The conscientiousness of color choice.

So,

They can associate us to negative and positive feelings,

Which shape how we view the world.

And while some of these feelings are universal,

They're also very nuanced,

Based on individual life experiences.

And this is where it gets really fun to be the artist behind the brush choosing these colors.

In placing color theory in painting,

Alongside a deeper interpretation to that of spiritual resonance,

We as artists add depth and integrity to the work we produce.

Rather than simply sweeping red strokes because we like the color,

We are creating harmony in our compositions,

While also establishing energetic messages that others can feel.

If not at a conscious level,

Then certainly unconsciously.

In that racing heart of red.

I need to grab some water.

So what does the color red mean spiritually?

Note the red hearts.

It is power,

Creation,

Survival,

And passion.

When a spiritual sign appears in your life that is red,

It usually represents that you are ready to take action,

Maybe on a new goal or a project.

The spiritual message is,

Have courage.

Take action.

We'll take care of the rest.

At least that second part is what we hope for.

Whether it shows up in dreams,

Meditation,

Or intuitive expression during painting or drawing,

The spiritual message of red is courageous action.

When we impart this to our paintings,

Then consciously disseminate why we have chosen to use it in this way,

This quantity,

This positioning,

We can better understand our own drive to deliver a message through our use of red in our works.

I personally use red sparingly.

When I contemplate this,

I stop short if I simply say that red is not one of my favorite colors.

That's the surface level identification.

Sure,

Yes,

It's true.

But there's more to this.

Why?

At first pass,

My first pass over this,

It is because I believe everyone has a unique power within.

That is,

If I use red as an outward expression in order to attract,

I'm manipulating the viewer and therefore subjugating this core belief of mine that I'm a guide and a way maker for others,

Not a force,

Brandishing a hot poker of action at others.

It's like comparing a Tony Robbins to a Dalai Lama.

But that's just my first pass.

I share work back and forth with another artist.

She uses red more liberally than I.

Excuse me.

Yeah,

Liberally.

Yet rather than making an interpretation of her use of red as a direct opposite of my own,

In other words,

A force of attraction,

I see her use of red as a force of self-exclamation,

Her own will to keep going in her passion to express with vitality,

Fiery urgency,

And bold intentionality.

It's all nuanced based on our own interpretations and our own experiences with color.

So a few examples of my work,

From my work.

And I had to search hard for these reds.

One thin line.

This doesn't necessarily heat,

Engage your hearts and your blood to pump harder,

But it draws the eye.

Now in placement,

It's almost center.

So it again makes that connection to this space.

But not on center.

That would create disharmony.

I use that term on purpose because that is part of what I'm doing.

Unconsciously sometimes,

But mostly consciously.

Uh oh,

Uh oh.

Can I get rid of the,

There we go,

Sort of.

I'm looking at it sideways.

I use red not as a statement,

But in harmony with the other colors that I choose to use in my composition.

It helps balance,

It helps draw the eye.

Can I draw it?

There we go.

Helps draw the eye,

And it keeps motion happening,

Energy still happening without doing that enervating that I'm attributing to the color red,

Personally.

Last but not least,

This print.

It's not my work.

This.

When you look at this,

Obviously red is incredibly dominant in this print.

What does it do?

Where do you feel it?

Is it in your third eye?

Is it in your heart center?

Does your pulse quicken?

This really plays with the emotional resonance of the color.

Quinn agrees.

So think about that a little bit through my examples and through your own work.

You may have chosen red consciously because you were drawn to it,

Because you saw how it would harmonize with other colors.

Or maybe unconsciously.

You were having an angry moment,

Subconsciously even,

An angry moment.

Your vibration was enervated,

And you found yourself painting with a lot of red.

Let that be an analysis,

A point of curiosity to learn more about yourself first,

And then the work you're trying to put into the world.

Because the world needs the work we're trying to do and put into it.

And the more consciously we can express our message through these color choices,

The more we're going to connect with those spaces in the world that need this message that we are trying to deliver.

So what of all this?

My bringing this information to the forefront is not so as to have you better educated on the color wheel,

Although it's there.

But rather to have you more consciously aware of what you are trying to say or not say in your art.

In short,

To better express your unique personal self more deeply in your paints.

So at the very top of our comment stream,

I haven't been paying attention to the comment stream,

So if you have questions you might want to type them again here,

But I posted before we began three questions.

So that you can all write them down and let them be triggers,

Good triggers,

Jumping off points to thought processing this week as you paint.

How can you use red to more deeply express yourself in your art?

How is your personality,

Character,

Values,

Heart,

Spirit,

Or intention expressed through the use of red in your art?

And finally,

What story are you telling with red as an integral player in the compositions you create?

This week,

I challenge you gently,

Gently,

Maybe not with red but with pink.

Sorry,

Couldn't resist that.

This week I challenge you gently to take the information you disseminate from this exploration,

Answering these questions,

And letting red resonate,

And put them into your creative practice,

Either in paints or perhaps in a story.

Perhaps write a bio of why you paint and why you paint in red.

Call it a short story,

A story of red.

You can already guess.

Next Monday we'll meet and look at orange,

But before we go,

Let's take those five minutes.

Take those five minutes together to do what we do here.

To share,

To express,

To connect,

To keep weaving that creative tapestry,

But specifically today,

To explore red.

This is going to be chunky for me.

This is going to be,

Um,

It's not going to be a smooth resonance.

It's not going to make my heart beat smoothly.

It's going to be jaggedy.

I can already feel it coming,

Even before I touch red.

But that's what I want to investigate,

Not to fear it,

Not to step away from it,

But to say,

Okay,

Red makes my heart jangle,

Makes my gut tip sideways.

Why?

Why?

And is,

If I determine that the why is okay,

It's fine,

That's all right,

Then I continue to use it as I use it.

Or,

If this understanding reveals a place of healing,

A place of new discovery,

Then I'm going to push that edge.

I'm going to go into that territory and see what it teaches me about my life.

Look at you.

You thought you were just painting.

You're on a whole healing and up-leveling journey here.

All right,

Five minutes.

We're going to go with just the pure hum of the fan in the background,

And when the chime goes,

I'll say goodbye.

Enjoy,

Everybody.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

I'll say over and out.

Everybody have a wonderful afternoon.

If you are interested in learning more about the chime,

I'll tell you about it.

All right.

So,

I'm going to go ahead and have a wonderful afternoon if you're in that stage of your day or whatever time of day it is,

And I hope to see you all next Sunday.

I'm going to get here and get some paint on.

Much love.