Mindfulness Paintings Blog!
The Mindfulness Paintings Blog will explore creative meditation exercises, mindfulness artwork and mindfulness art activities. Please share your thoughts, ideas and experiences as we journey towards being more mindful as we create. This is a safe place for the inner artist to share, notice and grow in mindfulness.
Let not future things disturb you, for you will come to them, if it shall be necessary, having with you the same reason which you now use for present things. – Marcus Aurelias
LATEST BLOG ENTRIES
Fiber Art
This fiber art 3D relief is made from a list of things that formed my artistic process: macrame, beads, cardboard, pieces of cloth, swatches of burlap, macaroni, yarn, pipe cleaners, crayons, buttons, childlike colors, pom poms, and found objects reinvented from a child’s perspective. Fiber elements allow me to include fascinatingly colorful, textural details echoing first memories of art making.
Childhood Art Experiences
“Childhood” is an experimental piece created to grasp my earliest, primal childhood art experiences; ones that most powerfully formed and shaped my present creative process. This assemblage sculpture started with a list of things that formed my artistic process: things like macrame, beads, macaroni, and yarn. I am mindful of the ways capturing “Childhood” pushed the limits of every aspect of my creative process.
The Unlocking of My Mind
The woman you see in “The Unlocking of My Mind” is me, and the lock symbolizes the unlocking of my mind: the new ability to see outside the box and comprehend the “truth” of others who live and believe differently from me. The lock also represents the oppression of others. There’s a little more symbolism in this artwork. I am of Greek origin. A hand-made wreath of tree leaves, twigs, fruits, and flowers is customary for Greek women, and I wear that wreath in this painting. “Wreath” means “a thing bound around.” It can represent a restriction or “a place with certain limits.” I ask the question, “In what ways was I raised and taught to see restrictions and limits on others and myself?” “The Unlocking of My Mind” is all about this question.
Mindfulness Paintings
Inside this Mindfulness Paintings book you will find examples of creative journaling. This journaling process is similar to my art making process. With this comes…
Conversations about Art
Unexpected choices on my canvas start conversations about art. “Who is walking across that bridge?” Where is he going?” “Why is he going there?” I am mindful of how these questions make space for conversations about art.
Art Continues the Conversation
What do you think of this door that leads to magical places? Tell me what you think. Ask me why the fish swim among sunflowers. Ask me why a water spigot is under the water. This piece of art is made to ignite and then continue a conversation.
New Awareness is a Gift in the Present Moment
Jesus reached out and placed His hands on my head, and I was hopeful that He would make me better. He touched my head, my neck, my stomach: every place that was broken. I knew I would go right back to my old ways if He didn’t fix me. I ached to be healed.
Is That Really Me?
I am mindful of the challenge: combining 25 surrealistic art techniques including cut outs, cubomania, collage, bulletism, automatism, graphomania, and excavation. Bright red splotches, black drips, white splatters, and a faceless cutout cover the surface of this canvas. In the present moment, I can see this exercise stretching me.
Paint It As You See It
As I remember it, I paint it as I see it. The door wasn’t really red. The house wasn’t yellow. Somehow, changing the colors makes it just right. I paint it as I see it today. I am mindful of my memories, and I am aware of how they bring meaning to the present moment. This blog is an encouragement to paint it as you see it.
Paint and Release
I painted these candlesticks while my mind recalled bits and pieces of memories: memories that are getting foggier and foggier. There’s something healing about painting it. When I complete a painting, I release my hold on something I was holding too tightly. Paint and release. Paint and release. With each stroke of the brush, I am aware of how peaceful I am. There is something incredibly soothing about the entire process. I am mindful of the reality that art is an incredible gift. Read this blog to learn more about the incredible gift of creative process.