{"id":4595,"date":"2016-09-13T14:36:51","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T21:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/?p=4595"},"modified":"2016-09-13T16:46:14","modified_gmt":"2016-09-13T23:46:14","slug":"september-13-2016-painting-prayers-invitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/september-13-2016-painting-prayers-invitation\/","title":{"rendered":"September 13, 2016 – Painting our prayers – an invitation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \n \"Fb-Button\"\n <\/a>\n <\/div>
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\""Heather,

“Heather, a Friday group artist, painting cherry blossoms – whether she thinks so or not, this is<\/i> sacred practice.”<\/p><\/div>\n

Listen to this post:<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/20160913-Post.m4a<\/a><\/audio>\n

I start with a confession. I didn\u2019t paint two more days \u2013 this past Saturday or Sunday. I share this not as a mea culpa, but because of how much I noticed it and missed it. I take to heart the promise I made, not just to keep my word, but also because of what painting is to me. I really missed what even a few minutes of it does for me – and to me. I didn\u2019t not<\/em> paint because I couldn\u2019t have. I was home and passed by my studio a zillion times. But I allowed myself to ignore the pull to my painting and instead, took care of the next thing on \u201cthe list.\u201d I was also working on an extensive Photoshop project, for a special occasion commission \u2013 working with someone else\u2019s photos, to put together something that is \u201cLife in Full Color.\u201d And it\u2019s not coming easily. By the end of the day yesterday, I was still nowhere with the project, and I still hadn\u2019t painted since Friday (and that was only for a few minutes). I came home from dinner with my mom and dad yesterday evening, and I dove into the painting of grapes \u2013 the one whose image I\u2019m completely in love with. Even after just two days away, it was such<\/em> a relief to be there with my brushes and paints, bringing through this image that has so captivated me.<\/p>\n

This is a marked difference from times in the past, where days and days and days<\/em> would go by, that I didn\u2019t pick up a brush. Even just last year, I barely noticed that I\u2019d not painted for several days \u2013 at least not consciously. The promise I made has changed my relationship with what I do. Though I knew it in my head that painting for me is a devotion, I feel now it more closely. Painting is one very important way that I pray. It\u2019s funny how things can shift. I\u2019ve told myself that the free and therefore fun part of what I do, has always been taking the photos and then playing with them in Photoshop – which is more an exploration; I don\u2019t know where I\u2019m headed. And I\u2019ve held painting as the hard part<\/em>. But these past few days, have me seeing how the painting part is where it gets real<\/em> for me. It\u2019s where my mark is made and it\u2019s where I sense my love coming through.<\/p>\n

\""I've

“I’ve not gotten very far on this one since I last posted it two weeks ago. I feel it when I’m not painting now.”<\/p><\/div>\n

I used to be a very regular and very active member of the Fairfax Community Church, when my beloved Sara was the pastor there. Sara officiated at our wedding 16 years ago. This experience with her, drew me to want to be with her more and be part of the community she led. Going to church almost every Sunday for 11 years, revealed part of me to me. In a post last year about my spiritual journey, I wrote this:<\/p>\n

What is most precious to me now is that, along the way, I discovered the part of me that is deeply devotional. There is a place in the center of my chest, in my heart that longs to long, to revere, to surrender, to worship even – something greater than me<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Since Sara left (she\u2019s now the chaplain at Marin General Hospital), and things changed at the church, I stopped going and have been staying home on Sunday mornings. I don\u2019t feel the pull to go to church anymore. The years I was so engaged with the church community, I wasn\u2019t part of the one that surrounds me now \u2013 it didn\u2019t yet exist. Now that it does, I see how the precious nature of what we do and what happens when we gather in our groups each week and month, gives me much of what nourished me at church.<\/p>\n

And yet there are things that I still miss. I miss the intention to be in worship, the explicit \u201cthis<\/em> is devotion, this<\/em> is prayer.\u201d I\u2019ve been tossing about an idea in this vein for a while. It now seems like it\u2019s time to make it real. The idea is to gather on Sunday mornings in Larkspur \u2013 once a month (for now) \u2013 to paint together. I won\u2019t teach. I won\u2019t lead or intentionally hold the space for each artist\u2019s creative process, as I usually do. I will instead, hold the space that the gathering is sacred \u2013 and joyous<\/em>. I will be there with my painting and palette \u2013 but not all the extra supplies nor set up the projector. We\u2019ll play music that suits this spirit \u2013 not necessarily religious (and I am open to suggestions!). We will paint a few hours in the morning \u2013 no more than 2 or 3. We will paint our prayers.<\/p>\n

I could do this at home, all on my own \u2013 but I paint alone all the time. What I miss is being together, in what I\u2019d call worship. Wherever two or more are gathered\u2026 Here\u2019s another bit from that post from last year:<\/p>\n

The clearest truth for me, is that [my faith] is a relational faith \u2013 as much as it is the source of infinite love exists in each of us, is each one of us – it\u2019s most potent as the connection between two or more of us. I have a hard time putting words to my experience of it. It\u2019s a feeling in my body. I have the sense that the center of my chest is expanding. Love is being received as well as emanating out from me. It\u2019s heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It came to me earlier this year that what I do, that what we<\/em> do, is paint our love<\/em>. And it is my belief that love is God. And<\/em> I\u2019ve come to believe, that there is no separation from the sacred and anything else. Connection is the nature of our universe. Putting my intention and attention on this, feeds my faith. I am inviting you to join me here.<\/p>\n

There is no cost to come, but I\u2019m thinking we will have a basket for donations, we could offer to someone who needs help. A woman came into the office last Thursday evening, asking for our help getting a place to live again, so she can bring her kids back under one roof. She\u2019s doing this through an organization in San Francisco<\/a>. It came to me, that she\u2019s the perfect person to begin with.<\/p>\n

This well-known Rumi poem has been with me, as I\u2019ve written this post today, translated by Coleman Barks. I read a post by a Muslim blogger, that dismisses this translation, because it waters down Rumi\u2019s Islamic religion. But this translation is all over the Internet and I appreciate how the words Coleman Barks used, made the wisdom, the spirit of Rumi accessible to millions of us.<\/p>\n

If today, like every other day<\/em>
\n we wake up empty and frightened.<\/em>
\n We don’t have to open the door to the study<\/em>
\n and begin reading.<\/em>
\n We can take down a musical instrument.<\/em>
\n Let the beauty we love be what we do<\/em>
\n there are hundreds of ways<\/em>
\n to kneel and kiss the earth<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So, will you come, kneel and kiss the earth with brushes and watercolor with me? We\u2019ll start this Sunday, September 18th at 10 in the morning. I\u2019ll have coffee, tea and something to nibble on. Please let me know if you want to be there.<\/p>\n

And, if Larkspur is too far for you, I invite you to join us – and paint from wherever in the world you are. I will set up a Zoom video conference so you can join us virtually. Please let me know if you want the link.<\/p>\n

With my love,<\/p>\n

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

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