{"id":3643,"date":"2015-11-24T15:46:47","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T23:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/?p=3643"},"modified":"2015-11-24T21:02:11","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T05:02:11","slug":"november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/","title":{"rendered":"November 24, 2015 – The blessing of painting together"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \n \"Fb-Button\"\n <\/a>\n <\/div>
<\/fb:like><\/div><\/div>
\""Susie's<\/a>

“Susie’s (not my) painting in progress. Amazing, huh?”<\/p><\/div>\n

Listen to this post:<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/20151124-Post.m4a<\/a><\/audio>\n

The week before last, in our Thursday group, Susie was asking me about the painting she was working on. It\u2019s this one here, of a bowl of candies. She was wondering whether she\u2019d gotten the nooks and crannies, between the candies in the silver bowl dark enough. She, like just about all of us, works from reference photos, so I said let\u2019s see what the image has to tell us. Her printed photo was very small and somewhat dark, so I picked up her lap top and her painting, and leaned against the wall with both held outwards for her \u2013 and everyone else, who spontaneously gathered around \u2013 to see. I couldn\u2019t see either her painting or her image, I was just inviting the process of having the reference image, provide the information to answer her question.<\/p>\n

As I watched and listened, as they were looking and pointing and noticing and suggesting, I was filled with the most amazing sense of satisfaction, appreciation – and joy. I told them I was having a moment of ecstasy<\/em> and they immediately got why. It dawned on me that they don\u2019t really need me all that much anymore. This has been happening more frequently \u2013 without my being there to hold up their paintings, either. I hear the artists in my groups chiming in with kind, respectful and helpful feedback about how another artist might solve a problem, or where she might take her work.<\/p>\n

Learning how to paint, means gaining skills through instruction and lots<\/em> of practice. Becoming artists takes giving ourselves over to the process \u2013 to our own process – as we are practicing these skills. There\u2019s no place to arrive to; we are all consistently in progress along with our paintings. Mastery is a relative term. I\u2019ve recently picked back up a painting that I started on three years ago. It\u2019s really interesting to look at the parts I painted then, and gauge how I have grown. I\u2019ve expanded and refined my ability to see \u2013 what\u2019s going on in the image – because of all the time I\u2019ve spent doing just that<\/em>, on all the paintings since I set it aside. We are never finished! I\u2019m witnessing how this process is being lived, in the artists in our groups on an unconscious level. And as we paint, the voices in our heads are just as noisy and intrusive about what\u2019s happening on our paper, but we take these voices in stride – and just get back to work, to our work \u2013 at the level we are each on at the moment.<\/p>\n

\""I<\/a>

“I painted the rose on the left 3 years ago and am working on the one above now.”<\/p><\/div>\n

The community that has been created in each group \u2013 and to a certain extent amongst all of the artists who paint with me regularly \u2013 self-generates a force field of support and love. When we gather, what happens is special. Or rather, what is made possible<\/em> is special. It\u2019s safe. No one echoes our damning voices. And there is momentum to help us move on to from one painting to the next – despite all the temptations to not<\/em> paint \u2013 which are relentless, especially this time of year.<\/p>\n

I read a blog post by Jennifer Louden, about a month ago. The title of the post really grabbed me. What she had to say in the actual post met me less than I was hungering for, though. But the title was a big contribution to me: \u201cHow Making Art Changes Your Life and Why You Can\u2019t Make it for that Reason.\u201d I SO get this! Making art has<\/em> completely changed my life. And I didn\u2019t learn to paint because I wanted to change my life<\/em>. I learned to paint because there were paintings<\/em> in me! But exactly how does<\/em> it change our lives? This is what I was hoping Jen\u2019s post would illuminate for me. But it didn\u2019t \u2013 at least not in the way that meets my very personal sense of this question, so I am having to sort it out for myself.<\/p>\n

What we do is hard<\/em>, it takes shifting the way we normally perceive. It uses other parts of our brains that we don\u2019t commonly use. And for most of us, this isn\u2019t easy! It takes focusing intensely on what\u2019s happening, with color, with the amount of water, with the way the brush works, pressure and angle. And then there\u2019s the whole inner process that I talked about before. Overcoming all of this challenge, to produce a tangible result, does<\/em> something to us. I hear my mom say all the time that she looks at a painting she\u2019s finished, especially one done some time in the past, and she marvels that it was she<\/em> who painted it. And then she has a voice that tells her she could never do that again. My mom is one of the most rational and logical people I know, so it\u2019s not surprising to me that she has this experience. Painting requires suspending this way of being \u2013 it means looking at shape and shade and color and taking action based on what we\u2019re seeing, not in thinking about the leaf, stem or petal – the \u201cthing\u201d that we\u2019re painting.<\/p>\n

When we spend time painting \u2013 making the required shift in how we perceive and how we are using our brains – it is like a trip to another dimension. Our paintings \u201chappen\u201d – they come to be – out of being in an altered state. So, of course, when we return to our \u201cnormal\u201d state, it can be hard to believe that it was actually us<\/em> who painted them. In a way it wasn\u2019t. The part of us that is in disbelief, is not<\/em> the part of us that actually painted our paintings.<\/p>\n

It is spending time in this altered state that changes us. Our groups provide a structure to spend time in this state, on a regular basis. And there seems to be another level of impact, because we are in each other\u2019s company. I\u2019m not sure exactly why \u2013 something to explore in another post. But, I hear over and over and over<\/em>, how time in our painting groups is \u201cbetter than therapy.\u201d Though what happens is not therapy, as it is commonly understood, what happens is<\/em> therapy. Please know that I\u2019m a big believer of the other<\/em> kind of therapy. I\u2019ve healed enormously in the presence of my Donna. And I wasn\u2019t able to paint like I do, until I did heal some of the deep hurts that were in the way. Just needed that said too!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Thanksgiving week here in the US, and we are all about what we are grateful for. Just typing these words plopped me right into my heart, feeling the warmth of what that is for me. I don\u2019t know where to begin – what I\u2019m grateful for feels boundless. And<\/em> having the privilege of making art central to my life and getting to spend time every week – and month – with these artists is a big hunk of it. You, who have made coming to paint with me part of your<\/em> life – and what we\u2019ve created together – are the beating-heart of my work-life. How grateful I am for you \u2013 your commitment to your art and yourselves and each other – is so profound it\u2019s hard to put into words.<\/p>\n

Wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

Love,<\/p>\n

Cara<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen to this post: The week before last, in our Thursday group, Susie was asking me about the painting she was working on. It\u2019s this one here, of a bowl of candies. She was wondering whether she\u2019d gotten the nooks and crannies, between the candies in the silver bowl dark enough. She, like just about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNovember 24, 2015 - The blessing of painting together - Life in Full Color<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"November 24, 2015 - The blessing of painting together - Life in Full Color\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Listen to this post: The week before last, in our Thursday group, Susie was asking me about the painting she was working on. It\u2019s this one here, of a bowl of candies. She was wondering whether she\u2019d gotten the nooks and crannies, between the candies in the silver bowl dark enough. She, like just about […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Life in Full Color\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-24T23:46:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-11-25T05:02:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/candies-WIP.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cara\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cara\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/\",\"name\":\"November 24, 2015 - The blessing of painting together - Life in Full Color\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/candies-WIP.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-24T23:46:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-25T05:02:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/d797aedc34742442251ceb8fef7ff393\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/candies-WIP.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/candies-WIP.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"November 24, 2015 – The blessing of painting together\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/\",\"name\":\"Life in Full Color\",\"description\":\"Watercolors by Cara Brown\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/d797aedc34742442251ceb8fef7ff393\",\"name\":\"Cara\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6f3732b38fdc958366cca34fe90f54746a926a829fe1f8d64ceebfb3ac46752?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6f3732b38fdc958366cca34fe90f54746a926a829fe1f8d64ceebfb3ac46752?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cara\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/author\/cara\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"November 24, 2015 - The blessing of painting together - Life in Full Color","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"November 24, 2015 - The blessing of painting together - Life in Full Color","og_description":"Listen to this post: The week before last, in our Thursday group, Susie was asking me about the painting she was working on. It\u2019s this one here, of a bowl of candies. She was wondering whether she\u2019d gotten the nooks and crannies, between the candies in the silver bowl dark enough. She, like just about […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/","og_site_name":"Life in Full Color","article_published_time":"2015-11-24T23:46:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-11-25T05:02:11+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/candies-WIP.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Cara","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cara","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/","name":"November 24, 2015 - The blessing of painting together - Life in Full Color","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/candies-WIP.jpg","datePublished":"2015-11-24T23:46:47+00:00","dateModified":"2015-11-25T05:02:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/d797aedc34742442251ceb8fef7ff393"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/candies-WIP.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/candies-WIP.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/november-24-2015-the-blessing-of-painting-together\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"November 24, 2015 – The blessing of painting together"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/","name":"Life in Full Color","description":"Watercolors by Cara Brown","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/d797aedc34742442251ceb8fef7ff393","name":"Cara","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6f3732b38fdc958366cca34fe90f54746a926a829fe1f8d64ceebfb3ac46752?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6f3732b38fdc958366cca34fe90f54746a926a829fe1f8d64ceebfb3ac46752?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cara"},"url":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/author\/cara\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1uJKT-WL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3643"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3655,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3643\/revisions\/3655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. The constant WPCACHEHOME must be set in the file wp-config.php and point at the WP Super Cache plugin directory. -->