Joy and Pain(ting)

It’s a new year, the beginning of the third year of the pandemic.  Here we are in another spike with a new variant raging.  Over the last two years we have all suffered losses and a great deal of stress. Once again, I find myself not interacting with anyone except my husband and the cat who has survived into 2022.  As the spike goes down and Omicron recedes, I know I’ll see my friends again in person and appreciate them more than ever.  We’ll drink wine and laugh and talk.  I’ll go places other than quiet nature preserves and treasure each moment. Hopefully I’ll travel. But meanwhile…. What has sustained me since March of 2020 has been painting and teaching art. I’ve created a large body of work and much of it is the best I’ve ever done.  I’ve learned to adapt my teaching to Zoom and have grown as an instructor as I share my love of painting and all things art related. The classes have become a community that reaches across time zones and into one another’s’ studios. Painting is, often, joy. Sure, it’s frustrating and often a struggle, but those times when you go down the rabbit hole and you’re in harmony with the muse are magical moments. Someone recently asked me if I make digital art.  I don’t because I love the process of painting. I love mixing colors and making marks, the touch of the brush to canvas, breathing life into imagery.  In my classes I love helping others discover their abilities and creative selves. Sometimes it’s difficult to get motivated to create, especially during hard times.  But perhaps that’s the time we need to do it most with no expectations or judgement except to allow the process of making something to soothe your soul. Make anything!  Use art supplies, words, sounds, movement, plants, food, found stuff.  Don’t worry if it’s “good”. Let go of that and experience how creating something can bring a sense of peace and fulfillment.