How does my Art Process inform my Creative Coaching?
“As I develop a particular painting, I depart from a concept and reach instead into the demands of the canvas before me. What’s coming through is telling me I must go elsewhere. So while I might give the opening direction, the painting, as it progresses through my mind and body, determines its own journey to completion…. The artist has to have a dialog with what is being created.”
a question in my online art workshop
Someone in my recent mixed media & composition online class asked me what my creative process was when I approached a painting. I love that question because it is at the heart of my coaching style. In the video below, I attempted to answer her by describing what I think the creative process is and how that informs my way of working.
how do I start a painting?
I often start a piece with a spark of an idea, an image, a color, a shape, a collage paper that I love. However, I do not have a preconceived idea of where the piece is going to end up! That may be terrifying for some, but I find it extremely liberating and healing. I allow my intuition to guide me as to how to react to each mark I make on the painting. I am guided by my reactions.
a conversation with my painting
As I move along in the process, I slow down, step back and breathe. What I have poured into the piece is now my own subconscious language. If I sit with it long enough, it will start informing me of what I’m really trying to express without realizing it. How cool is that?!
the way I teach online art workshops
This is really at the heart of my teaching. Although I teach technique and principles of art, I am more interested in encouraging my students to access their quiet inner creative voice by encouraging process oriented artwork. I encourage, inspire and guide them towards what THEY are wanting to express and in that way allow them to experience the wonderful healing capacity of the creative process.