Creative Invitations.....

I came across this video earlier and thought I would share it with you. I am always moved by stories of how art moves pain that has been hidden and contained within the body and soul...how the imagery transforms that pain and slowly over time offers healing. What the artist shares in her paintings is raw...and real...and honest. What emerges is images and symbols that have personal meaning in her own story. The imagery of pain is stark and can be graphic and bold...maybe disturbing to some. Reaching in and spreading it across the blank page is an act of redemption. It is the taking hold of something unspoken inside and giving it a voice. Sometimes those voices need to question...or scream...or weep...or just reach out to the external realm and be validated. I think you have to live outside the world's box to risk exploring as this artist has done. You have to be willing to not have things all clean and tidy...or pretty or neatly explained. You have to be willing to listen and then hold in your hands the images that greet you. There in lies the risk.....

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I find myself drawn to painting lately. I should say "the idea of painting". I haven't braved the bare canvas very often myself. I move in, dabble a little, then move on to what is more familiar...and safe I suppose. There is a letting go required it seems. I keep waiting...for what I am not sure. I collect every color of the rainbow in fresh, crisp new tubes and containers of paint. I buy paintbrushes and sponges and texture tools. I hoard every new book that peeks into the lives of those who seems to have crossed the threshold into discovery and creative bravery. I line them all up nice and organized, stand back and admire how rich and inviting they all look. Then I wait. I imagine what I might create with them. I am not sure why I hesitate. Maybe I am afraid of the revelation. But something inside is gearing up...getting ready...wanting to make time to see what it is I have been missing...what healing is waiting to be released through the trying. I think deep inside I know there is more to my own story. Maybe all this preparing and collecting and arranging is my soul's way of clearing a path...of slowly and gently offering the invitation. But thats the thing about creative invitations...you are the only one who can finally take the step and decide to accept them!