Silent Art Journal Page

 

Real silence is when you have a silent mind, even when you are speaking.

~ Papaji

Painting can be like that, too.

I find my truest expression seems to come from a silence within, through the heart and hand, to the stroke on the page.

Sometimes I am surprised in this, by the way the softest, unintentional shift in pressure or touch can create the most subtle and interesting nuances... or how a new color can take it in a whole different direction from where I thought it was headed.

Or how there is silence in tending to the details - choosing what raw places to leave, and what areas to enhance or 'clean' up on pure intuition, simply because it's what the page seems to be asking for.

When I speak to a class, or whenever I have something difficult to say to a group or a friend, I ask Creator to speak through me. To use me. To let the words be exactly what the other needs to hear, and to let my own heart trust that - even when I don't understand, or when I feel like I didn't do enough or said too much.

I used to practice that little prayer before tending to my patients, too. It completely changed my relationship with caregiving and serving. To be honest, it completely changed my relationship with faith.

When I paint now, I offer a similar surrender: I hand over my energy to Creative Source, and simply ask with a breath, that the painting become what is most needed for my own highest good.

Many times, I'm not able to hush the inner chatter - it's true. That is part of the work of it.

And yet there are some times, like in the session for the pages above, when the most beautiful silence within carries forth {my} honest expression.