Painting in Mid-Air: The Messiness of Letting Go

Painting in Mid-Air: The Messiness of Letting Go

"It is not possible to complete yourself without sorrow." ~ Hafiz Last April, I began an enormous and purposeful transition in my life. I left my long career in residential architecture to explore the direct experience of creativity, and its healing potential. I soon felt like my life was out of control, derailed and barreling [...]
Creating Outside the Lines

Creating Outside the Lines

It's hard to believe, but I've been posting to Facebook for The Painting Experience for almost eleven years. We have a large number of Facebook followers -- about 64,000 -- but because of the way its algorithms work, Facebook shows each of our posts to only about 300-1,000 of those folks. Every now and then, [...]
Creative Challenge As Initiation

Creative Challenge As Initiation

Homesick for moderation, Half the world’s artists shrink or fall away. If any find solution, let him tell it. Meanwhile I bend my heart toward lamentation Where, as the times implore our true involvement, The blades of every crisis point the way. I would it were not so, but so it is. Who ever made [...]
Everything Changes: Impermanence and Process Painting

Everything Changes: Impermanence and Process Painting

After so many years of painting, somehow it really hit me that from the moment we start a painting, impermanence starts, too. I began painting with The Painting Experience in the mid-1980s. After that, I started a meditation practice, studying Buddhist principles and psychology. I took a long break from painting and when I began [...]