they're here! new art release
Good morning! The new paintings are now up in the shop. The idea of this series was to paint little icons of a safe-enough moment. I hope they bring a bit of that felt sense of peace to you.
I made this piece last night when I couldn’t sleep. It’s like I suddenly feel *free* after the time I’m supposed to sleep, like I’m off the hook for everything and the time is finally mine. And in that moment, I want to paint, not sleep.
This is another piece in my Signs of Safety series- painting tiny portraits of the things around me that signal that now, in this moment, I’m safe enough. Safe enough: to breathe, the soften, to open.
There are a lot of similarities between painting and going for a walk. For example, I don’t have to be good at either of them, the benefit is in just doing it. They are both ways to come into my body and to take back a little time from the urgency of getting things done. They let my mind shake out a bit, disrupting stuck thoughts or the sink of existential dread. In other words, they help me access presence, which functions as a kind of hope.
So when I can, I try to go for a walk and paint a bit every day. Yesterday I did both, and painted this scene from my walk when I got home. I love a long shadow.
The unclenched hand. Soft jaw. Soft shoulders. Open grip.
Friendly reminder: Take your meds!
What is the greater joy- the art or the art supplies?
Early morning / home