Painting is a lesson in trust
Painting is a lesson in trust
While painting I can feel my feelings clearly
Meditation is the foundation of my path and is indispensable for me to calmly recognize what feelings I have and where they come from. This gives me the opportunity to go through my conditioned and acquired emotional reactions and behaviour patterns layer by layer and to sort out what I no longer need.
Painting on the other hand is an exercise in trust and confidence. It is a process of surrender where I can feel my feelings, but they do not take over.
I start painting as soon as I know the first two colours
As soon as another colour comes to my mind while painting, I will use it, but it is a test of courage every time. This requires bravery on my part, especially when the colour landscape created from the first colours is in balance. So I practice in faith and add the new colour. If the additional colour is very contrasting to the colours already used, then it’s like jumping from a 10-metre board into the pool.
The next test of courage comes when the colored background is finished and I suddenly know which motifs to add.
If I don’t follow my heart…
… I would always have the feeling that I didn’t trust my innermost being.
Therefore, I would rather risk the whole painting than give up out of fear. Also, in the feeling of trust mistakes happen, things that I had not intended for the painting. But I take it as a gift and a pointer. It only means that the painting will take a new turn.
For my paintings I am dependent on the help of everything that is. Sometimes I even write the mantra that I use on each painting, already on the white canvas, to ask for a good result.
Before I start, I often give an offering to the local energies at my home, the genius loci. I offer a typical Balinese offering called canang and pray that I will not be disturbed by distracting energies. My wish is to create an image that expresses a beautiful feeling, one of the encouraging and healing energies, that I feel in Bali and that I hope will inspire other people.
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