I had an epiphany about my painting...and then about my life

I realized the other day, while I was working on a new painting, that my best work, the work that has the most depth, is usually accomplished by painting a new painting on top of an old one.  Why is that?  because what inevitably ends up happening is that I leave parts of the old painting visible in the new painting.  It is almost unrecognizable in the sense that the intention of the old painting is usually completely covered up--but small details, layers of color or shape, are woven in.  In doing this, the painting takes on more layers, more detail and usually a sense of freedom or etheriality.  The weaving of layers is an essential accident of my best work.

When I realized this I had two thoughts almost simultaneously--the first thought was I need to start doing this intentionally.  I decided to start creating "underpaintings" as a part of my process.  Many artists do this, at least with color washes--they paint a solid color or color wash onto their canvas before they begin a painting.  This way, when they paint, they are responding to a unified color throughout the work (instead of the stark white of a blank canvas).  My under painting idea is similar, but rather than wash the whole canvas in one color, i create  a very quick abstract image with multiple shapes and sections, and fill them in with paint or collage.  In doing this, essentially, I"m setting the stage for color play and shape integration by creating pieces that may or may not be woven into my final painting.

This is an underpainting--quick shapes and colors filling the canvas

My second insight was far more personal:  I have moved many times over the past few years.  I find it most striking when thinking in terms of my children and their lives.  My 12 year old son has lived in 8 homes during his life.  That is 5 states and 2 countries.  Considering I lived in the same state for my entire childhood until I graduated college, this moving around thing has been a surprising twist to my life that I could not have even imagined when I was a kid (I had never been on an airplane until I was 11 or 12--my son did his first cross Atlantic flight/move when he was 9 weeks old).

Moving around a lot has added shape and color to my life in ways that I'm not sure I can even explain or fully understand. And while many of the moves have been positive, there have also been challenges.  I certainly did not expect to move from Pennsylvania to Michigan with my boys last year only to move again this year to Maryland.  And while new is exciting, and we might like to think of our life as one big adventure, I am frankly over the adventure.  I would love to settle down, find a home, build a life and let my roots grow deep.

But back to the layers:  I realized, each time I move, each time I become part of a new community, I grow.  I create, or uncover, a piece of myself--and, like my paintings, I realized that as I move on, I become my best self by layering and weaving those pieces together.  SO while the moving has had its challenges, I also know that I am becoming the person I am supposed to be--growing, layering and learning as a result.

Dreaming of Home  36"x48" Mixed Media on Board

This painting, measuring 36" x 48" is the result of painting on top of an existing painting.  It is called "Dreaming of Home"--with each home representing a state or country I have lived in with my family: Michigan, New York, Israel, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,Michigan again and Maryland.

Art and Meditation

I like to say that I make art because it is cheaper than therapy.  And while this may or may not be true (I'm not sure my husband would agree about the "cheaper" part), art has proven to have therapeutic benefits and can be used quite succesfully to promote meditative states.

I'd like to share two creative techniques that can work to ease stress and calm your mind. The trick to these techniques is that there is no way to get them wrong.  They are not about making something look a certain way, or getting it right.  In fact, they are repetitive and meditative because they are about process not product. In other words, what is most important about them is how they help you think and feel, not what you make, or how good your final piece is.

Usually, when people talk about making art as relaxing, I cringe.  When I am making art that I am passionate about it can be exciting, envigorating, challenging, infuriating, frustrating, and wonderful, but certainly not relaxing.  However, the techniques that I am sharing today are the opposite of all of that. They are about slowing down, meditating, and being calm. They may or may not end with the creation of an amazing piece of art, but that is not the point.  the point is that in engaging in creative activity, you free your mind, become more in touch with your feelings, and give yourself space just to be.

Here are two techniques that work great for creative meditation.



Zentangle
Zentangling is a fun and interesting technique that can promote creative meditation.  There are lots of ways to do a zentangle, and you really can't mess it up.  Zentangling is intuitive and relaxing.  You can bring it with you anywhere you go, and youi don't need any special technology or materials.  Sharpie markers and paper work really well for this technique.
Essentially what you do is start with a line that you think of like a string.  Start by drawing your string and curving it all over your paper. Once you start don't pick up your marker until you have a string drawn all over your paper, with overlapping sections.  like this:

Once you have your sections drawn out, a beginning zentangle is about filling in your sections with intentional patterns and shapes.  Fill in each section with a repeating pattern.  Advanced zentanglers can get really detailed here, but for beginners, just focus on simple lines, swirls, circles, and shapes. Add shading, shapes within shapes, thin or thick lines, or whatever you want to make your zentangle work for you. What you think about while you zentangle is up to you!    I find that the very act of intentional doodling (thats really what it is!) frees my mind and helps calm me.

Watercolor Blend Painting
Watercolor paint is an interesting thing.  I happen to think it is one of the most difficult media to work with. If you are not careful it blends when you don't want it to, sharp lines disappear, you can't really fix a mistake, Once a mark is put down you can't really change it.  That being said, if you can let go of any preconceived notions of what you want your final work to look like, if you can focus on the process over the product, watercolor can be an extremely satisfying medium.  For this process you will need watercolor or mixed media paper and watercolor paint, as well as a paintbrush and cup for water.
Wet your paper before you begin, by getting your brush wet and spreading it over the page. Then load your brush with color. drip, draw, pat  or splat your brush on the paper and see what happens.  Rinse your brush and reload with another color and see how the colors blend together.  Experiment and see what kind of happy accidents happen when you just let the colors roam free!  The paints blend best when wet, and keeping your paper wet faciliates this process.  To do that you can just get your paintbrush wet and brush it over your paper before adding color.

Here's a quick color blending tip:  This is a color wheel:

When blending paints, choose colors within two or three sections in any direction on the color wheel (for example: yellow, orange and red blend nicely together, as do blue, and green and turquoise). If you try to blend colors further apart than that (like if you try to blend yellow, red and purple), you will get muddy or brown results . Colors opposite from each other on the color wheel, like red and green or orange and blue, or yellow and purple will not mix well and you will get muddy brown colors.  

What I love about these techniques is that they are so simple, require very few supplies, and yet they can have profound effects on your well being.   Art has long been recognized as a way to help ease your mind, calm your spirit, and access your deepest emotions. If you try either of these art based meditative techniques, please let me know and share pictures in the comments.  And let me know if you have other creative ways to manage anxiety or access your emotions.  I'd love to hear from you!