My Why, How, and What
 

We are living in a fast paced and quickly changing world and we are hearing the buzz words these days of being 'mindful' and of taking 'self care'.   Yet what does that mean?  What could that look and feel like?

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For me, being mindful starts with paying attention to me and my inner workings.  How I am feeling and the thoughts those feelings can bring about in my daily life.  The paradox is that mindfulness can actually be a mind-less-ness.  A stopping of the thinking in the head-mind and listening more to the heart-mind.  That well-spring of emotional content and connection to what keeps us human in an electronically centered world.  Meditation is one mode of reaching that pausing, yet for me, simply sitting still in nature does the same thing.   We all have little glimmers of that pausing, when we become engrossed in doing something, especially if its something we enjoy, or a physical task where we have to settle into what our bodies are doing.  

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When I paint, I suspend that thinking mind. I sink into the spaces between breaths, between heart beats, where there is a stillness of solitude and serenity in which to listen to what arises to be painted.  The why is to bring that sense of space to a canvas.  To allow the thinking mind to rest, offering me and you, the viewer, opportunity to breathe in respite and quietitude.

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What do I listen to?  I listen to how this painting wants to be expressed.  Allowing my body to become a conduit, connected to my soul space, to bring forth an image.  Brush and paint, extensions of being creative.  Working in layers, each a complete image that will become more than the sum of its parts.  Energetic sweeps and swooshes,  more considered detail.  Colour, intuitively selected to bring a depth of nuanced meaning to the theme.  My about page has a little more to read on my process.

Painting for me is something that is as essential as breathing.  It hasn't always been that way, but family circumstances that flipped my known world upside down have brought about a change.

With all the potential busy-ness of day to day life, the demands of survival to have a roof over head, food on the table.  To cater to family needs of young and old alike.  To service work commitments and friendships.  All takes its toll.  All potentially reducing the time we spend on loving and nourishing ourselves, our self care, our soul enjoyment in and of the natural world that is the essence of us.  Leaving us with only a few days of holiday in which to unwind and take a deep breathe of freedom.  You recall that deep sigh we have when reaching a holiday destination? Or even when we arrive home after a hard journey, or difficult day.

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With my paintings you can experience that type of respite.  Somewhere in the comfort of your home to rest your busy mind and take a breath.

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