the spirit of creativity: seek, stay, share | Creative Practice Care (with new painting)

Shortly after the first blue drip asserted itself on the page - an unplanned, but true-to-process happening - I stepped back, I had that feeling that I’d met this painting before. As if that even makes sense. Which it didn’t. Until it did.

Long before digital filters and effects made it all so mind-numbingly easy, I used to shoot 35mm photos of landscapes, sift through the hundreds, and then meticulously piece chosen ones together in new ways in the darkroom, and then eventually with various software - into double exposures, mandalas or mirrored images. It was a tedious project, looking back on it… but also a meditation of sorts.

This piece began in that old way of seeing and being. First, out in nature with my camera. Then, with the help of some more modern tools to expedite and play with effects and contrast until I felt inspired. The end point was never going to be the digital photo, though. That was just the beginning.

Then, there was sketching - the sound of graphite and pastel scratching on a lightly gessoed page. Then a pause.

Then ink and paint, layer after layer, with many moments of non-doing... maybe even more than the doing moments, ya know? But the painting hung out, a presence. She stayed, I stayed, until timing was right.

While I love a good energetic expression and lightning moments of gratification, I also love slow art-making. The being of it. The relationship that couldn’t be without that time invested, that shared space. The listening and tending and seeing it through. Maybe it is even the contrast of the two approaches in my practice that interests my creative spirit most. That’s likely.

There is spontaneity in both ways. Whether initiated by me or otherwise. Like that blue drip. It just happened, my mind was initially disappointed… but then, at this point in the game, I know to go with the flow. Quite literally, in this instance.

One became two, and I kept playing with the harmony.

{an emergence of spirit} prayer painting, mixed-media on bristol. 11”x14” Hali Karla

I eventually remembered where I had seen or experienced that blue drip before in my art, and when I found that painting in the studio, that came long before this one, I was struck by the similarity in colors, as well. I’m using different paints and supplies altogether, mixing my colors more, it was an entirely different process approach - but even the core of the palette re-emerged in this very different painting, eight years later.

You can see that first painting HERE, an intuitive one, with a poem you may very well need to read right now if you have a moment. It seems to strike folks at just the right time.

As for the paintings, See the resemblance? It’s funny to me - and maybe only obvious to me - but not so surprising.

You see, you don’t have to find your style or voice or aesthetic. You just have to keep creating. It is already in you. It will take on new forms and voices in different iterations… but you can’t be removed or absent from what you make… because your creative energy and expression is unique to what makes you You. You can stifle it at times, for sure, with imitations or efforts to be what you think you should be or more like someone else. Sometimes it may be quieter as you learn new skills or methods or simply rest without trying so hard.

But ultimately, you are you… and your voice, style, mark-making (on art and life), aesthetic (what you love and have a knack for combining), and the way you see and bring light and connection will emerge and emanate in whatever expression your creative practice takes.

In truth, I find, it is really good for the soul to just trust that, and to let your roots reach down into the heart of today’s practice or focus, whatever form it may take right where you are at, without worrying so much about how the growth may look awkward at times on the surface or whether or not the fruit will appear and ripen in season.

So today’s Creative Practice encouragement is straight from my process to yours, a breadcrumb trail of reflection, including the painting above and then some.

Here is the take-away for your Creative practice Care, encouragement and reflection:

May your curiosity, heartbreak, love and deepest longing guide you when you SEEK. Don’t dismiss those potent calls from Creative Source… see where they lead.

May your attention and devotion help you STAY awhile when you land on something that resonates and asks you to be with your Creative Spirit. Whether it is spontaneously energetic or deliciously slow, trust the rhythm that makes you feel alive and all-in with your process each time you come to your practice. Don’t mistake impatience or frustration for spontaneity, or hesitance or fear for the richness of resting in slow, deliberate expression. Find the rhythm you hunger for in this season or project.

May your heart and hands SHARE generously what you see and discover in your process, as life allows and invites. Your creative practice is for you, yes - but not just you, love. Because it forms you, dwells in you, it moves outward from you. You can’t help that. See what you see, love what you love… even keep the art or writing to yourself, perhaps… but do let the creative spark it ignites speak into your life, choices, relationships, and the next direction you find yourself heading toward.