The Experiment: Day 336 ~ Making Art With Head, Hands, and Heart…

“Painting Is Her Happy Place”

I am falling in love with my art again, and, even with all the mistakes, I feel a deep tenderness for this woman I am painting, my alter ego, finding her way, painting for the sheer joy of it. And it’s nice, each day, to just let what wants to come, come, without feeling like it has to fit in with some “Project” or have a story to go along with it as my Ladies did, no I just sit here and let the doors of my heart swing wide open, and let it happen.

And what I am finding, as I have found before, not just in drawing and painting, is that there is some kind of balance that I am able to come to when I alternate back and forth between the work of my head (writing) and the work of my hands (Painting in this case, I used to always have fiberwork around me and when I got stuck in my writing I would pick up my weaving, spinning, knitting or crochet.). And some kind of magic happens. When I switch to the work of my hands my brain relaxes and things that I was stuck on in my writing suddenly resolve, answers to questions pop up, ideas for new work surface, so I stop, and make notes, and then keep painting, say, until I have the overwhelming urge to have to write again and I switch back. I worked on the painting above off and on all day. It is a very satisfying way to work.

And it is very, very deep, this allowing what will come to come, allowing it not to be perfect, allowing that mistakes will happen but not letting them stop me. In this way you develop a kind compassion for yourself, your work, and the world around you. Painting, as are so many other art forms, is a deeply contemplative act. And when you develop a kind compassion for the art you are making you stop beating yourself up because you don’t paint like Georgia O’Keefe, or all of those artists that you follow on Instagram whose work you love. You come to a deep acceptance for the fact that this is the work that you do, this is the way your soul wants to express itself in the world through your art. And it is good, it is enough, it is satisfying. And, as a 64 year old woman with no art training, who didn’t start painting until she was 59 because of the cruelty of a nun in 2nd grade who laughed at my little pictures and mocked me in front of the class (The grass was orange, the leaves on the trees pink, the sky purple and so on) it was an act of bravery on my part even to begin. And after the fire to begin again, and, with several lapses in courage, growing fearful again and again because “I couldn’t draw very well,” read, I couldn’t draw like other people whose work I admired. I have come to a place, as the year of searching for happiness is coming to a close, when I have realized that painting, indeed, is my happy place, that this is what my art looks like, and that come what may I am going to continue on.

Oh my God what freedom to come to this. What absolute joy. I shyly, tentatively, today call myself an artist and I feel like one even painting in my sketchbook with little kid’s paint sets.What I want to tell people everywhere — and I am not the only one whose budding artistic talent was squashed by a cruel, unfeeling teacher or other person in their life — is START NOW! So many people I know, people my age and older, have always wanted to make art but been afraid to. Well I’m telling you it is never too late, the art that you make is your own and is just exactly right for you, and this is a joy, a deep pleasure, that you don’t want to deny yourself. Truly. And you don’t have to have a lot of money to make art, I get a lot of my supplies at the Dollar Store, or very inexpensively on amazon. Yes, I look at the art catalogs and drool, but I don’t need expensive supplies. For these paintings I am using a pencil, a black pen, and a child’s watercolor set. Period. There’s no excuse not to get started.

So no, I won’t be posting paintings everyday, I won’t be doing them everyday, but I will do them as the Muse moves me to do so and I will share them as I do. Coming back to painting is another gift of this 365 day experiment, and I am deeply grateful. Painting is my happy place. I shall carry on.

The Experiment ~A 365 Day Search For Truth, Beauty &
Happiness: Day 1 ~ Introduction To The Project
“Do or do not. There is no try.”
Yoda

Comments

  1. Beverley Paulsen says

    You, Maitri, are Glorious.

    • Oh Darling Beverley, you made me blush! And BEAM! 😀

      Thank you so much honey. And I look really forward to seeing you in class tonight!

      Hugs,

      Maitri

  2. Maitri, dear Maitri, I am so glad you don’t draw/paint like anyone else. You are a GEM, a precious Jewel who creates art that only YOU can create! I LOVE this painting! She is exquisite, absolutely beautiful and YOU!

    • Thank you so much Jean, your kind words make me so happy. I feel kind of shy and tentative about sharing my art because it feels so new. Not really new, I started drawing and painting in 2013, but with my Ladies it was always just the heads pretty much because drawing whole bodies/pictures just seemed beyond me with no art training or experience in doing so but I decided I had to make a leap. And yes they are bumpy and lumpy and kind of cattywompus and lopsidedish but that just seems to be what comes out of me (And surely I am bumpy and lumpy and kind of cattywompus and lopsidedish myself! I guess we paint from who we are!). I am so excited to be on this new journey and so happy that you are here with me. I love you dearly…

  3. You and me and all of us are YOUnique! God has made us each to contribute that special gift that is only yours. Took me 68 years to let that finally sink in.

  4. Beautiful.*

  5. katya taylor says

    i’ve always loved your painting, you have a very unique style that is all yours; it is colorful, flowing, flowery, humorous, tender, and definitely creative!!! i love the idea of your writings and your artwork playing off and complementing each other, just as my 700 word stories and my acrostics are such different forms but issuing from the same “creator.” when i teach my 3 week happiness journal course this fall, i am asking students to bring colored pencils they (we) can use to adorn our words…

    i look forward to meeting more of your alter “avatars” in paint in the coming days….

    love and hugs
    xo
    ka

    • Thank you so much Katya, yes, they both come from me, writing and art, but it’s different, it’s very different for me, the two processes. They definitely come from different parts of me. Writing is such a “thinking” sort of thing, drawing and painting feel like they come directly from the heart. Such joy! I wouldn’t want to be without either. Of course I am first and foremost a writer and a teacher, but, as Natalie Goldberg who has painted as long as she’s written and also done a couple of books about art — she sells her paintings on her website — says, “Painting is my darling pleasure.” Yes. She has always done both and I think henceforth I will be doing so as well. And I definitely see a book with both my writings and art but that would be a long way down the road. Now I’m just paining for joy…

      M. xoxox

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