Process Art: Antidote to a Product Oriented World

Process Art: Antidote to a Product Oriented World

I recently found myself explaining to a fellow architect who is also a professional painter the difference between product-based painting and process painting. Articulating the difference helped me to understand how profoundly I have been trained to look to “the other” for approval, and how process painting gives me the chance to look inside, instead. [...]
The Courage to Create

The Courage to Create

Process painting gifts us with many insights and understandings that become landmarks in our own personal journey. It's not a narcissistic activity, as some might think, because by working on ourselves, we are working on the world. In the mirror of painting, our narcissistic tendencies are revealed as creative blocks, and we must emerge from [...]
A Glimpse of the Process

A Glimpse of the Process

  Every painting is unique and the process is different from person to person, day to day, even moment to moment. What follows is an exploration of the development of one painting through the lens of spiritual practice. The beginning of a painting can be many things. This one came without much interest or inspiration. I [...]
Process Painting in the Classroom

Process Painting in the Classroom

This way of painting is about taking risks, having an adventure, being free to explore and try new things. It’s an honor and a privilege for me to facilitate process painting in classrooms: To watch as a child faces the fresh white sheet of paper with a sense of excitement and suspense is to watch [...]
A Few of Our Favorite Videos

A Few of Our Favorite Videos

We have a big workshop underway at the Esalen Institute this week. So large, in fact, that it outgrew the space where Stewart usually shows films to participants. (If you've been to one of our programs, you know how this works: During a weekend workshop, you'll usually see one video at the end of the [...]
You Can’t Manage the Mystery

You Can’t Manage the Mystery

The good news is that nothing works. There is simply no way to manage the mystery. The beginning of a painting workshop holds a special poignancy. People of many ages, backgrounds and degrees of experience have committed their time and energy to an inner exploration that’s totally unknown to them. As they gather for the [...]