Earthy Paintings

In honor of Leah’s theme of Earth over at Creative Every Day I’ve been doing some paintings exploring earth and my connection to the the earth.

I want to share one of my favorite meditation exercises that is so earthy and wonderful, called the Tree of Life Meditation. To practice it, sit comfortably and start by closing your eyes and breathing, letting yourself relax completly. Imagine yourself as a tree, growing roots downward into the dark, fertile earth, and branches upward to catch the rays of the sun and dance in the breeze. It’s especially wonderful if you get a chance to do that while sitting at the base of a real tree. I’m planning to find a friendly tree and relax at least one more time before the cold sets in.

For my paintings I have been going with a very loose abstract approach. I take a really large brush, like one I use for painting my walls, and

I load a couple of colors totally unmixed onto it. Then just start painting!

I use my left hand (I’m right handed) and it’s amazing how different and beautiful the marks can be. I totally encourage anybody who paints to try using their off hand and a large brush. It forces me to back off trying to paint something specific like a tree or a bird and instead I look at the shapes and colors of the paint. Then once it’s done, things emerge. I’m thinking the one on the left is going to be poppies.