Heartsong Studio

 If learning someone else’s method of making art turns you off, you may have thought you just didn’t have what it takes. You may want to reconsider and value your instinct in this article: Do you resist learning second-hand techniques ?

I was always the kid who longed for a pony every Christmas. Of course I never got one, but I never stopped hoping. When life gave me trouble, I would dig and dig, reasoning that with all this horse manure there was bound to be a pony in here somewhere.

Breaking horses – that’s what it was called.
====================================

When horsemen used to take wild horses for their own use, they would first break them. It was their spirit that was broken, and sometimes their bodies too. They used force to make the horse obey their wishes which often took a week or more. The horse would obey out of fear because the cruel treatment forfeited any possible friendly cooperation.

The resistance you may feel in trying to adopt someone else’s methods of art making, could be a true and healthy instinct. We’re often used to blaming ourselves for not going along with the program, that we may fail to appreciate the nature of our resistance.

It was not until recently, in my sixth decade, that I’m starting to realize I’ve actually uncovered many ponies. We all have ponies inside, and the ones we long for are wild and free. There is something about horses, especially wild, unbroken ones which reflect our natures in their pristine form. There is such a healthy wisdom in not being tamed, never giving up your freedom.

Your wildness is the basis of integrity.
==================================

If you believe that most of the time you can discover how to do things yourself, this is your integrity calling. When we feel forced, we become resourceless, but when we feel free, we are resourceful. You can only ride your creative potential freely by not losing your independent spirit. There’s a distant, sure calling to “hold onto your wildness.”

If you compromise and allow your wild horse to be tamed, you give away your essential gift, your free spirit. We form a trusting relationship not by controlling our wild potential but by earning our place as a fit leader while remaining ever the student of our inner wisdom.

The art of horse whispering.
==================================

Nowadays, they no longer need to tame wild horses by breaking them. They don’t actually whisper to the horse, they listen to the horse instead. Horses ‘speak’ in their own language. By observing closely the body language of horses, sometimes called ‘Equus’, a good horseman can get a wild horse to join him in about 10 minutes.

Be your own artist whisperer.
===============================

This is exactly the way you can discover and join your own wild potential. Be willing to learn your own unique visual language. You can actually observe your natural way of making marks when you start in your heart in response to a chosen subject.

Then, staying in connection with your heart’s inspiration, you can ask this new entity what it needs to come into being. In the same way, you can discover the most appropriate method needed to manifest it’s presence in the world.

What about learning the basics ?
===================================

The real basics are what come before any method.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” (Albert Einstein)

You can learn about how to use watercolours, acrylics, oils, or any other media, in hundreds of books, or there are classes offered everywhere. But you can also figure it out for yourself, by trial and error. Methods are just common sense.

Anything else: principles of art, colour theory, or perspective, are all theories which might interest you. They were all inventions by other artists to serve the birthing of their work. They were analyzed into a method after the fact. But they’re only really helpful if they serve the birth of your present interest right now.

Take a few minutes to sit quietly.
==================================

*** Center your awareness inside. Then, ask your heart to show you what your new work needs in order to become real. Imagine it coming into focus, not how it looks so much, but what it feels like.

*** Take some spare pieces of paper and experiment till you get close to what you were shown that your new baby needs.

You know you can’t create alone, unless you’re God.
============================================

Just like horse whisperers join with horses and together form a new partnership, so can you work in partnership with your heart’s wisdom. Working from your heart in this way, you are more creative than you can possibly know. You can invent and discover your own unique methods for every need.

There’s something so satisfying and powerful about embracing instead of resisting your inner wisdom ! 

At this time of year, all nature sinks down to sleep, and we face dark days ahead. All the seasonal expectation to be jolly only seems to make it worse, designed to cover up our despondency. I found a divine spark through taking a dose of my own medicine in:

Opening to overwhelm as a healing experience.
=================================

Recently I took part in a spiritual retreat where I met my Sufi guide for the first time. I’d never before been in the physical presence of an enlightened being like the Dalai Lama or Mother Therese.

Several friends told me that being in our guide’s presence is very powerful, but I had nothing on which to base any expectations. I had traveled a fair distance to this meeting, so I wanted to experience something of value, whatever that might be.

When it began, our guide taught in Arabic with a simultaneous translator. There were about 100 people in the large, beautiful room. I sat and listened to both Arabic and English, trying to take in the wealth of wisdom and absorb the sounds of a rich and ancient tongue, while absorbing the energy at the same time.

I was totally overwhelmed !
=================================

My chest felt tight, almost painful, and I had this strange feeling of falling aleep ! At first, I fought it really hard. How embarrassing ! And then, suddenly, I could see I was trying to figure it all out with my mind.

In that moment I thought of all of you, and art making. No, really, I did !
=================================

I knew I needed a dose of my own medicine. When some of you feel intimidated or overwhelmed at the prospect of drawing or making art, I tell you to lead with your heart first, and follow with your mind later. Easy for me to say, huh !

The precise moment I let go of trying to figure out what was happening, the tightening and overwhelm ceased. I allowed myself to be washed in peace, love, and wisdom. It had not been painful to open my heart at all ! What was painful was trying not to open.

How does this apply to art ?
=================================

Drawing, painting, or making any work of art, can be overwhelming. Our mind is scared of the unknown, even when we’re unconscious of any fear. The mind thinks it must do all the work, and figure things out, like trying to be jolly at this dark time of year, leads to covering up our true feelings.

Positive thinking is a disservice that covers up your truth. Please don’t do this to yourself.

Are you willing to be vulnerable and open yourself up to learning what’s underneath your worrisome feelings ? Can you find the sparks of love, peace and wisdom that are there inside your heart ?

How can your overwhelm bring forth divine qualities ?=================================

It’s a paradox that as you simply accept and observe your state of overwhelm, without trying to fix it, you will become calmer. Emptying yourself of your beliefs, issues and stories, opens your heart to receive. Each repetition of remembering gently opens and fills your heart with a drop of spiritual nourishment replacing a drop of your limited view.

The sincerity of your heart’s intentions to open yourself to the divine qualities is the most important thing. The more we practice remembrance, the more we are remembered. Trust your heart to show you the way.

Determine to find what lies beneath your fears, intimidation, or overwhelm. What courage, compassion, sweetness, strength, passion, innocence, patience, mercy, tenderness, curiosity, peace or love can you find right there in your work ?

Having experienced this overwhelm in art making, I had only to make the connection, and I trusted my heart to take in all it could hold and not even think about figuring it all out until later. It hasn’t been necessary to figure it out at all.

I’m still observing the personal growth. Instead of forcing the completion of the painting I left unfinished, my heart opening is reflected in it as it comes to life.

As the sun returns, as Hanukka spins around, as the virgin birth happens again and again, these ancient practices are symbols of what can happen naturally in each of us. Opening to overwhelm allows the divine qualities to manifest in us and in our art work as if for the first time.  As without, so within.