CREATIVE INTENTION USING WATER COLORS

Thursday, June 12th, 2014

Spontaneous acts of creative expression, making art without thinking about it, are another way to bring the energetic experience into conscious awareness through physical manifestation. Creative activities such as writing or painting are ways of continuing a dialogue with numinous experience and deepening the capacity to hold kausay. The process of creative expression can contain the heat of the energy and both a catalyst and a vehicle for self-reflection and collective service.

EXERCISE: CREATIVE INTENTION USING WATER COLORS

Before beginning this exercise, gather the art supplies needed for watercolor painting that are listed below:

Watercolor paper with enough texture to hold water and color pigment

A thick brush (Japanese ink brushes are inexpensive and work well)

A pallet of cold-pressed watercolor paints

A cup of water

Paper towels

A sturdy surface such as a table, board, and pad to place underneath the paper.

Find a quiet and comfortable place to sit, in your home or in nature.  Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. With each exhale, feel yourself sinking deeper into your body, becoming more fully aware of any sensations you may be experiencing. Take a few moments sitting and breathing through your belly, centering yourself by experiencing the sensation of inhaling and exhaling.

As you feel yourself becoming more fully centered, begin to attune to any sensations you are experiencing. As you sit with these sensations, notice if they are tied to any emotions such as emptiness, expansion, tightness, fullness, numbness, etc. – whatever comes into your awareness without any preconceived notions. Sit with the feelings for a moment, observing and giving your body an opportunity to “voice” what it is currently holding. Lean into the feelings, magnifying and intensifying whatever it is that you are experiencing so that it becomes more pronounced in your outer awareness.

When you feel that a channel of communication has opened up so that you are holding your body experience in your conscious awareness, open your eyes.

Now, begin expressing this body experience with the watercolors. First, dip your brush in the water and saturate the paper with the water. After removing excess water from your brush, using your intuition, without any preconceived notion, allow the sensations to direct you to the colors of the palette that best convey the feeling. Allowing yourself to paint automatically without thinking. Use colors that you are drawn to. As you begin to apply the paint to the paper, let the sensation that you are experiencing in your body direct the paint strokes. Paint what you are feeling, focusing on the process of expressing what you are feeling, without concern for the outcome. This painting is a record of your current experience.

If you are feeling constrained, work with multiple sheets of paper simultaneously or shift to painting on something larger that allows you to expand your gestures and movements. You may find yourself being drawn to making sweeping movements, or layering color, or making staccato movements, or focusing in a concentrated area. Whatever feels right to you in the moment is what you are expressing. If you feel “stuck” or tentative, paint with your opposite hand (i.e. if you are right-handed, paint with your left hand and vice versa).

Keep painting until it “feels” complete. After you have finished, and the paper has dried, write today’s date on the back and keep the paper in the pad or folder. You might want to begin a series of paintings. This is an alternative to journaling and is a way of expressing and tracking feel states that you may be unable to put into words.

 

 

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