Lesson 4 – Soul Vibrance Painting

art of allowing course image

Soul Vibrance Painting

The Art of Allowing

In the following demonstration, you’ll see one approach to  ‘allowing’ a painting to emerge. Remember, this is a co-creative dance with Spirit. I have discovered that the more I’m grounded in my sacred space, and the longer I take to slowly enter a meditative state of presence and enjoyment during the initial stage of ‘Laying the Ground’, the more likely She is to ‘appear’.

 

You can either paint along with me at each stage, or feel free to watch through all the videos first, and then enter your own process. You’ll find the written instructions available to download on the Mother page.

 

Stay conscious of the thoughts and feelings you have throughout the process. This is an integral part of the Allowing approach, and one of the greatest gifts as Spirit reveals golden nuggets of wisdom.

Choosing Your Palette

I recommend keeping your palette simple in the beginning. Choose 3 or 4 analogous colors (those which sit next to each other on the color wheel) which feel resonant with the essence of your soul.  Are you more attracted to ‘cool’ colors – blues, greens, purples, OR more attracted to ‘warm’ colors – reds, oranges, yellows?

 

Follow your intuition. Sometimes I am inspired by a piece of fabric for my color palette….in this demo I used the cool tones of a scarf I bought in Italy!

Soul Vibrance - Laying the Ground

The Guided Visualization Journey - Meeting Her

Allow 30 minutes to listen and journal your experience. What was your experience of Her ESSENCE? It’s not what she ‘looked’ like, but what she FELT like. This is what will guide your painting. What was her Message to you? What was the Gift she gave?

Soul Vibrance - Bringing Her Forward

After listening to the Guided Visualization, journal your experience of her ESSENCE (what she FELT like), along with Her message and Her gift. If you didn’t hear this clearly, that’s ok….continue to stay open to who She is, what She feels like and the gifts She brings while you paint.
Optional step: Soul Vibrance – Atmosphere

Telling HerStory

At this point, She had definitely emerged…..next I ASKED and stayed curious…. What are you here to bring? What do you want me to know?

I took a photo and converted it to black and white. This is a good way to assess whether you have a good range of values (darks and lights), and if She is popping forward enough. Next I practiced sketching Her story (her symbols) before painting it onto the canvas. I knew there was ‘Bird Medicine’ since this showed up very early in the ground with the wing shapes, plus I had a strong sense of bird energy throughout the process. Yet, I wasn’t clear how or where they wanted to be. It’s fine to use reference photos if you need to.
If you don’t have a strong focal point in the painting, the ‘rule of thirds’ is a commonly used tool amongst artists. Draw (or imagine) 2 vertical lines, dividing the canvas into thirds, AND 2 horizontal lines dividing it into thirds. Where they intersect is where the eye is naturally drawn INTO the painting. This is where I chose to paint the birds. Because my painting was entirely cool tones, I chose RED for the birds, which made them stand out against the cool tones. Tip: Warm colors move ‘forward’ and call for more attention, while cool colors ‘recede’.
Include just enough symbols and detail to tell HerStory, but don’t feel you need to fill every area of the canvas…allow empty, quiet spaces to live with your strong, bold expressions. In this way, She has room to breathe, room to Flow, room to speak….

Background studio music credit – Snatam Kaur

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