Creative Meditation: Painting Our Stories II

Through movement, meditation, and mental engagement we build our lives one layer at a time. With conscientiousness and compassion, we do so creatively. Join me for day two of this five-day session to build layers-chapters in paint-like the layering of our lives. Have one larger foundation (paper, board, cardboard), paints, and some drawing materials at hand, or simply watch and enjoy.
This track contains ambient sounds in the background

Transcript

Welcome to Before the Brush everybody.

We are here with these quick shots Monday through Friday time over the canvas To give our day to creativity to give a portion of Creativity to our day so that little by little it starts Intermingling with all aspects of our doing all day long For me creativity is a direct connect to Well the divine my best self Not all the time of course,

But it's where I find it it's where I make that connection between something bigger than myself and I'm sure all of you have something like that in your lives as well if it is an art primarily that creative Energy that comes and goes through you for your art production,

And maybe it's cooking.

Maybe it's your children Maybe it's gardening Maybe it's an aspect of the job that you do nine-to-five so to speak This is a space where I hope to bring your attention to those kinds of questions and to that kind of contemplation So that together we up level how we resonate into the world how we show up and By doing this by showing up here and then into our lives with the greater conscientiousness to that positive input and output into the world I Believe personally that we start changing the dynamics of human life here Which is a necessary aspect of where we're at right now,

So thank you for being here everybody We are bringing another I call it the halfway in between yesterday.

We used a dry material I had My chalk in hand some of you maybe had pencils or graphite or colored pencil Today we bring another pencil or crayon type of material if you have it,

But starting to introduce color Tomorrow we'll come to the story with brush Fluid medium,

But today.

I'm asking you to choose one more I Have a hard time calling this dry medium because it is It is a paint So I'm gonna use my oil sticks.

I just made that commitment in the last two minutes,

But perhaps you have something like neo colors or these are water-soluble wax crayons or ink tints or Colored pencils that can be water-soluble something like that if you're if you have that at your hand Bring that on If you don't then feel free to take a deep breath Close your eyes and interpret what you think is what you should bring here today This is about building a story this week these quick shots are about using one medium every day About using one medium you know yesterday was charcoal today.

It's for me these oil sticks to the surface and layering in as I'm calling them chapters of this story and Then the assignment each day is in between our closing and the next day's opening That you reflect over what?

Chapter has spoken Yes,

Let and spend time with the work.

That's having gone on on the canvas and listen to that intuitive hit it gives you I Heard it right away and wrote down You know I I looked at my piece yesterday when we finished and I just saw right away What I wanted to do that isn't always the case I?

Wrote that down and Then I let it myself sit with it for a while rather than jumping right in on that hit Oh,

I know what I'm doing going to it I wanted to sit with it and let it resonate and little tidbits you know editing Since I called this our story week Editing happened in the last 24 hours since I knew right away where I wanted to go with this and let it sit and Simmer and hang out with me Editing happened,

And I have a few nuanced changes that I'm going to work with today,

And I it was There's really a peaceful Experience yesterday,

But it was generative to go through this 24 hours and just Contemplate and sit with the work I did yesterday and see if that first hit was truly What I wanted to do over it was some other different voice in my head saying ah you know that's got to happen But no it was true to form and with a little editing I'm here today ready to dig in and get on it,

So that was my experience over the last 24 hours Hopefully you had something to do with it I hope you had something similar happen in your own practice,

And we're moving on from there now today So like I said another having a trouble that crossover medium It's not dry.

It's not wet.

It's wet and dry we're using that today something you can still hold in your hand and Manipulate across the surface,

But not fluid yet not yeah,

Not fluid yet So that's where we start but as always and For the record if you miss one of these days.

There's nothing wrong Your story just has a different trajectory Fewer chapters if you will so don't fret if you're here today Can't be here tomorrow that sort of thing just play along and come as many days as you can and then know that My intention is to publish these as recorded meditations So you can always do it again and hit all five since they're recorded and you can listen at your leisure Alright as always we start with a thought bubble And well this thought bubble speaks of words and Therefore it caught my eye since we're telling stories this week listen with your own ears,

Maybe close your eyes,

So you really tune in and Think about what it means if the word words is replaced by paint or art or light Lines excuse me or shape or color What if it was exactly at the point at which the words go wobbly?

At which they start to slip through our fingers?

That we find ourselves able to take an unobstructed glimpse into truth Richard Rohr said that What if it was exactly at the point at which the words go wobbly at which they start to slip through our fingers?

That we find ourselves able to take an unobstructed glimpse into truth That we find ourselves able to take an unobstructed glimpse into truth Now what that meant to me is that release Letting the words slip through my fingers is Releasing the tight grasp I can hold on my pen my paintbrush to Express a certain Determined predetermined direction I'm trying to go when in fact The truth lies in that release not in that clenching the bigger story Ro HR roar roar Ro HR Richard roar What if It was exactly at the point at which the words go wobbly at which they start to slip through our fingers That we find ourselves able to take an unobstructed glimpse into truth So let's start there today keep that in mind while body spirit intuition rise to the occasion and work from where our Our senses tell us to go or have told us to go over the last 24 hours Let's find that small glimpse into truth when we Let go just a little bit more I'm gonna set the timer for seven minutes today instead of five.

Hopefully that works for everybody's schedule It's still not that long of a of a quick shot But I felt I wanted to try to go even more slowly than we did yesterday even more contempt contemplatively Than we did yesterday in the five minutes.

So I tagged on two minutes and we'll see how this goes If you finish before that time is up by all means just rest just sit in the peace and tranquility of What what has become and And You know start that contemplation on it if you will today Yesterday we did eyes closed for those who desired it today It's eyes open because you will have some intention you're coming to the surface with now if it works to To respond to that intention that rose in the last 24 hours with your eyes closed then goodness gracious Yes,

Do that.

For instance if you just got a hit that use green But you have no concept of where to put that green You haven't received any information beyond use green then Give it a try close your eyes again and let that hand Have its play The hand that's not your hand.

I Will have my eyes open I'm a little bit,

You know,

My my Intuition has guided me to something a little more deliberate than eyes closed.

So that's how I will be working But before we begin I'm gonna turn so if you don't have an element in a hand and you're just watching You can enjoy The contemplation I am going through and let it be yours as well We start with a connection point Perhaps if you haven't yet or part of your response over the last 24 hours wasn't color specific perhaps you can use this time in about one minute of silence grounding To look at your palate before you the colors And let your eyes roll maybe half open half closed and settle on colors Take up what sings to you as your place to begin?

You?

Don't have to know why you're choosing them.

You don't have to Judge you whether they're compatible colors Simply selecting And if you do not have a palette in need of choosing from Then keep your eyes closed all the same Feel The actual weight of your heart in your sternum It takes some imagination because we have walked with these organs in our bodies our entire lives in their unique weight It's not something we can distinguish Can make one curious about someone who has a heart has had a heart transplant Is there a different sense to the weights of your body?

Feel the weights of your heart Feel the weights of your heart Sense its purity Its devotion To its perfect place and purpose in you In you this physical heart this mechanical heart Now add its layers That heart we attribute it attribute to it the heart of emotions The heart that can be pierced The heart that can swell The heart that can reach beyond the boundary of your skin body and touch others That's the heart we work with here That's the heart we work with here That's the space we come to here The place where one heart reaches out to express to another For us here through art With that beautiful deep breath Maybe put your hands over that heart center Thank it physically emotionally energetically your heart center for being a willing participant in all you do And I hope you enjoy this video Energetically your heart center for being a willing participant in all you do And now for seven minutes silence with a small hum of my fan going Seven minutes everyone enjoy day two chapter two of your story So So So So So So So So So So So So So So So Tomorrow chapter three we will come in with fluid media So whatever paint you want to choose have it ready but before you do that before you do that Spend time with this let it speak first Let it tell you colors media brush size Brush size ask it questions turn it around see if you can read it backwards All right we are not here to create masterpieces we are here to open a sensory place within us That helps us create masterpieces enjoy everybody I'll see you tomorrow

Reviews

I had fun with this. Although I’m primarily a musician, I’m currently staying at my mother’s home recovering from surgery and I happen to have my colored pencils with me. When you said “neo,” you brought me back to my teenage years when wearing neon colors were the fad. I don’t particularly care for wearing them nowadays but it was fun to remember how I dressed myself and the music back then. Thanks very much!