“If you hear a voice within you say,
‘You cannot paint, then by all means paint, and that voice will
be silenced.” ~Vincent van Gogh
If you asked me to paint a picture of a bowl of
fruit, the results would be quite comical. That's because I
can't paint. Except for when I can.
I wish I could have a conversation with
the great Vincent van Gogh. I'd tell him that I frequently
tell myself, “I can't paint!” I am very attached to this
belief too. It helps me see beyond the roughness of my less than
beautiful paintings and keeps me going back for more. It doesn't
matter to me that I can't paint. I do it just for fun.
I have no desire to paint something for
show or sell. I paint because it connects me with my creativity,
brings me fully into the present moment and entertains the heck out
of me.
I follow some of my intuitive paintings down a great big
rabbit hole and stand back amazed at the places I visit. Other
paintings make me mad or sad or both. Some of my paintings are
confusing because there is no meaning to be found in them. Other
paintings absolutely delight me or help me to understand myself
better. There is a big mix of possible outcomes when practicing intuitive painting. The mystery of going toward the unknown is compelling to me. Since I trust my intuition, I know the journey will
offer me nuggets of gold in one way or another.
If I ever get to have that conversation with Vincent van Gogh, I'm going to tell him that the act of painting does not silence that limiting voice inside of my head. I've just learned to be with it and keep going.
Blessings!
Beverly
PS: The above painting started out as a giant stick figure wearing a scarf blowing in the wind. Don't ask me why because I have no idea. As the painting evolved, I saw a little doggie's face in the outline of the paint. Slowly it turned into my dog, Buddy. This painting led me to tap into a whole bunch of the love that I feel for Buddy. It pulled out many joyful tears and reminded me that Buddy is always in my heart. When I look at this painting, I can revisit those moments of the deeply expressed love that came flowing through as I painted this. It's a sweet reminder of going deep into the emotion of love.
This is a enchanting painting bev! and the transformation that allowed it to be created is just great also!
ReplyDeletewhat a great quote to go along with your post! i love this painting...you really captured buddy's essence.
ReplyDeletewhat a lovely way to remember your friend! i can feel the love.
ReplyDeletei think that i can't paint a lot too. i think i mostly mean that i can't get the paintbrush to do what i want. except i like to be surprised, so maybe i mostly mean that i can't draw objects in a way that makes them resemble themselves in life or in my head. it's funny how that translates into the thought, "i can't paint".
yay - you're blogging about intuitive painting!