Firstly:

Welcome to Part Three of the year-long experiment “Creative Self Exploration”.
For the next several weeks, we will be painting/drawing an abstract art piece. I will primarily be writing for non-painters. Of course though, all the other folks are equally welcome.

“Abstract art” can mean a plenty of different things, but here, I am going to ask you to translate what you discovered about yourself in Part Two into simple shapes/colors/textures.

This is not a test. There is no right or wrong. No one is coming to rate you, nor grade your work. You’ve got nothing to measure up to.
Because, what we are about to embark upon here, is a dialogue between you and you. It’s personal, it is sacred, the process of which can be quite delicate. For this reason I strongly recommend that you keep your art piece while in progress, private, as in, not sharing it on social media, or otherwise involve people in your life, if possible, as we ultimately explore our…

In Creativity, You Are Inherently Free.

Let’s dive in!!

What’s this about? INTRODUCTION
Just found this out? I recommend you either start from PART ONE…..
Or, if it is currently going on (unfolding) and want to join in “live”, I recommend you work on Part 2 and 3 together, e.g. Week 10 from Part Two first then Week 16.

Week 16: Colors of Your Existence

April 20, 2024

Hi Visitor, good to have you (back) here.
Let’s jump right in.

I’ve asked a lot of questions in Week 10, the corresponding week to this week’s exercise, about your skin as a boundary that encases you.

I would like you to return to your answers from the week, and contemplate on the following:

Imagine yourself seeing you from distance, far enough to give you an objective view of yourself.

Remembering your answers from Week 10, ask yourself:
if you are to translate your perception of your skin into colors, shades, and textures, what do you look like to you?

If you see multiple colors, etc. choose the ones that give you the strongest impression, and
 draw/paint in that color/shade/texture, a shape that best represents the impression you got from your existence.

Mind you, this is about your impression of yourself, and not your actual skin color or physical shape.

Example.

If a person in actuality is considered yellow who may want to lose a few pounds.
(That’s me btw ;)

The person, in this exercise, sees herself in a fluffy cloud-like (texture) white (color) with a slight grey tint (shade) around her throat, her heart in polished (texture) sweet (shade) pale pink (color) and her toes in metallic (texture) blue-ish (shade) slate grey (color).
Strongest impression she got was the pink, and to herself she appeared like a cotton candy (shape) , so she drew on her paper a pink uneven round shape with fuzzy contour using acrylic paint applied with an actual cotton wad.

If you chose a single tone tool like a graphite pencil, you’d be seeing you in variations of textures and shades.
For instance, feather-soft/slight “shading” application for your throat color, also soft but drawn with a bit more pressure to get the graphite-sheen on chest, strong/hard zigzag on toes…and overall shape you can draw in circling lines to make it look cotton candy-like.

It doesn’t have to be this detailed so if you feel overwhelmed reading this, please don’t.
I went an extra mile describing, trying to give you better ideas.

This week’s would be the 4th shape on your emerging art work. Place the shape of the week on your paper where you feel most drawn to.
You may choose to let it overlap with the other shapes, make it the biggest one or in a size of an ant, and so on. It is up to you.

Please keep in mind that, what is coming together is a depiction of your truth.

Give in to Your Truth and you’ll soon find you have gained a life-long Friend.

We will draw one more shape next week, then the next next week we will celebrate in ways imaginative and fun.
As always, I beg you to revere your emerging picture.

Have a good one and be back in a week!!

Week 15: Scent Journey Inward

April 13, 2024

Welcome back Dear Visitor!!

It’s been a pleasure to welcome you (back) to this year-long experiment/exercise where I follow my creative hunch and let this whole thing unfold. I am getting inspirations for up to Part 5, and am excited to share them with you in near future.

If you just found this and would like to give this a try “live” – as this project unfolds, I recommend you work on Part Two and Three together, example, for this week, Week 9 then the current Week 15.

This week, we are going to use what we found in Week 9 and paint/draw on our emerging masterpiece.
Back in Week 9, we explored our sense of smell, what recollections surface within you.

Firstly, please bring out your paper you’ve been drawing on for last 2 weeks, and tools (e.g. pencils, pastels, paints, crayons….) of your choice.
If possible, find a spacious/stable/even enough surface where your elbows (if you are using your hands) can freely move about. If not enough room, no worries, just find a large enough space and make do.

Let me remind you this; limitations like that won’t limit your Creative Flow.
Easier with space, especially if you haven’t done something like this before, but not a must.
In fact, finding your way despite can be another opportunity for Creativity to aid you, and one more reason for you to be proud of yourself.

Let’s move forward:

Settle in a comfortable (enough) position / place, and reflect on what you discovered about yourself in Week 9.
Pick one scent memory that is most compelling to you, and allow yourself to feel into the memory.
Think of 3 colors (if using monotone tools, 3 textures) that best represent the following:
a color of your scent, of your memory, and of your emotions/feelings associated with them.
Choose one out of the 3, and when ready, draw/paint a shape you feel is right, on where on paper you are drawn to, with the color of your choice.

I intend to keep each week’s entry short enough. I shared some tips in previous 2 weeks about this drawing/painting experiment, so please do have a look, if you haven’t already.

When you feel you are done, trust the feeling and set the artwork down for now.
And pretty please, take time to marvel at your picture, coming together.
I say this as I remember another special friend of mine who once remarked, “the longest journey is the one you take, from your head to your heart.”
Allow me to humbly add:

The Most Beautiful Journey is the one you take Inward.

Bon Voyage, and see you in a week!!

Week 14: Listening to Your Visions

April 06, 2024

Hello again, how was your week?

This week, we are turning our ears’ experience into a picture.

We are going to picturize the sound. Let’s refer back to Week 8.
If you are just joining me and wish to come along live (as this exercise unfolds), work on Week 8 first then come back to this week’s experiment/exercise.

First, take out the sheet of paper you drew/painted on last week, and the drawing/painting tool(s) – pen/paint/crayon, etc.- of your choice.

Just as we did last week….

Find time and place where you can relax and focus for a while.
Pick one memory/recollection from what you discovered about yourself in Week 8.
Go into the experience, re-live the memorable moment(s). Savor what makes it so special.
In your mind, remember it in colors. Then in textures, shapes. Make it vivid.
–
When ready, pick one tool, choose a position within the sheet and draw/paint a shape you just envisioned, with your choice of color/texture – as if to place your ear-memory onto the paper.

Can you turn what is so special about the memory you picked into a color? If using a single-tone tool like graphite pencil, texture? In other words….
If you choose one color/texture that best represent your memory, which one would that be, how does it look?
If color, is it pale or dark, if texture, fluffy or jagged?
What the shape would be, a circle, a rectangle, warped, elongated, squared? Zig-zagged , wave formed or more like a cloud? How big within the paper, where in relation to the last week’s shape?
Do you want to fill the shape with the color/texture, or would rather leave some of it un-filled?

Memory you pick does not have to be a “happy” one, to make this exercise positive.
Recalling a special friend of mine who once told me “life comes in all 31 flavors.” …

Embrace all flavors until every one of them becomes Beautiful.

So yes, pick the memory that feels right. Even if doing so feels uncomfortable, no worries.
The very act of turning to Creativity transcends the experience; the Ultimate Positivity embedded in it.
The very act itself is a form of Embrace.

Now, “re-living the experience” may not be too appealing if your choice of memory is particularly, for instance, sorrowful.
I am not suggesting extended suffering.
What is suggested here is to bring the emotions/feelings, etc. forward in your consciousness, and imagine them in color-texture-shape and draw/paint, as if to move them from inside you onto the paper. May sound silly but I urge you to give it a try anyways.

Unless. as I stated in “Introduction/Disclaimer” – scroll down to “Few Important Notes”, remembering is too overwhelming.
If so, please discontinue and pick something easier.
Timing may not be right. You’ll know. Just please do not strain yourself.
This I learned myself through trials and trials:
Going gentle does not delay one’s progress. Straining oneself oft. does.

So now you got 2 shapes on 1 sheet of paper.
A parting wish for this week: please take a moment and be amused by your emerging picture.

Have a good one!!

Week 13: Step Into Your Blank Canvas

March 30, 2024

( I am going to write as if you have been with me since Part 1 throughout. If you have not / just joined me, etc., please go through each week from Part 2 along with Part 3 that is starting now. )

Let’s begin by referring back to Week 7: Your Feet.
But first, prepare your pen(s) / pencil(s) / paint(s)*, etc., and a piece of paper on a surface large enough to place them.
( I strongly suggest not using an eraser, and prepare just one sheet of paper. )
Please set aside enough time lest you not feel rushed.
Relax into what you found in your Week 7 exercise.

*I touched on this in Part Two’s “Important Notice” (at the top of the page): if you have one graphite pencil for instance, you can sharpen it to a needle point and fill the shape of your choice with thin, hard line scribble. Or, use the side of the pencil and fill your shape with soft fuzzy texture. If you chose paints in tubes, you can thin them with water and paint your shape with a brush, or apply thick paint with your hands.
Possibility is limitless even with limited tools / materials.

Pick one time / place your feet remember most strongly / strikingly.
Walk into the memory and live it as vividly as you can.
Hold the vision, the feel, the senses, as if you are right there, feeling it.
And ask yourself:
if your memory has the color / texture / shape, what would that be?
And where on the paper would you place it, how big is the shape?
–
When ready, draw / paint your shape on your paper where it feels right.

Please remember: you cannot do this wrong, even if you tried your damnedest.

When you ask yourself, please become silent enough, patient enough and eager enough, to listen to any hint of inspiration** arising inside you. An inspiration to pick a particular pen instead of a brush, for instance, could be a mere whisper. It may not make sense, a part of you may wage a war against it.

**Needless to say, but on internet, playing it safe is golden: what is suggested here is giving into inspiration that is life-affirming and not those that are harmful / destructive to self and/or others.

If you can hear resistant thoughts inside your mind, please write them down for future reference.
Another benefit of doing so is that more often than not, by simply writing them down on paper that is external to you, helps you create a distance from their influence.

Alternately. If you cannot harness your resistant thoughts/feelings enough, example, this whole thing makes you angry and that’s all you feel, then, you can instead find a color-shape-texture of your anger and paint/draw it on your paper. In other words,
what I am really saying is this:

Who You Are Now Is Always Perfect for Creativity to Flow Through.

I wish you’ll have a fun time.
Sincerely, and see you in a week!!