Most of us have heard about the benefits of meditation. However, it sounds easier than it is to do. Fewer of us know about the profound benefits of painting. I'm one of those who has trouble meditating, still, I can attest to the meditative state that painting brings to my mind. It's similar to the effect that gardening has on me.
Both activities are great for coping with overwhelming emotions or stress. There has been numerous research that show the power of meditation and the science behind it. Creating art is a type of meditation, an active training of the mind that increases awareness and emphasizes acceptance of feelings and thoughts without judgment and relaxation of body and mind.
Painting and gardening are about reaching a state of consciousness and breaking free from the constant debilitating chatter of the mind. When I practice these activities, I enter into a state of present-moment awareness. Sometimes it takes longer for that chatter to cease, but if does in the end.
“All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness,” Eckhart Tolle wrote.
Last June when I went camping in the Adirondacks, we stopped by the visitor's centre. I was so impressed with the spectacular fields of blue lupines that we saw there. I took a number of photos to paint but didn't like the little building in the scene and never ended up painting it. A few days ago, I came across a photo of an abandoned barn that I took in the Eastern Township area, south of Montreal last August. And then it hit me, that this was the building I had been searching to integrate with the field of lupines.
Here is the result of the combination of those two photos. This painting is going to fit in nicely in the large old barn wood frame that I have.
Both activities are great for coping with overwhelming emotions or stress. There has been numerous research that show the power of meditation and the science behind it. Creating art is a type of meditation, an active training of the mind that increases awareness and emphasizes acceptance of feelings and thoughts without judgment and relaxation of body and mind.
Painting and gardening are about reaching a state of consciousness and breaking free from the constant debilitating chatter of the mind. When I practice these activities, I enter into a state of present-moment awareness. Sometimes it takes longer for that chatter to cease, but if does in the end.
“All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness,” Eckhart Tolle wrote.
Last June when I went camping in the Adirondacks, we stopped by the visitor's centre. I was so impressed with the spectacular fields of blue lupines that we saw there. I took a number of photos to paint but didn't like the little building in the scene and never ended up painting it. A few days ago, I came across a photo of an abandoned barn that I took in the Eastern Township area, south of Montreal last August. And then it hit me, that this was the building I had been searching to integrate with the field of lupines.
Here is the result of the combination of those two photos. This painting is going to fit in nicely in the large old barn wood frame that I have.
I'll have this painting and a number of others at the Nepean Fine Art Spring show next weekend. The show is at the Ukrainian Hall, 1000 Byron Street on Friday evening and Saturday 10-5.
Have a great week,
Danielle
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