The Red Thread

Chinese-legend-myth-of-red-threadThere’s something magical that I’ve been noticing in my life recently. It his to do with art. With learning, teaching, and living an artistic life.

When I started down this path, I was quite a babe in the woods – clueless about where I was going, what I was doing, and why I was doing it. All I recognized was a calling… a yearning to create – to pick paints and paper, glue and pictures, with no idea of what to do with them, how to mold them into something that was pleasing to the eye.

I stumbled upon a few teachers – wonderful people who shared their art, tips, and techniques online for free on YouTube. I picked up a few tips here, an idea for a technique there. But very often, these free videos were disappointing. They were either timelapsed and so fast that I had no idea what or how the person was doing what they were doing. Often, they were product demonstrations – and said products were not necessarily available in India. But I persevered.Continue reading→

Adult coloring books and the creativity myth

“I love coloring! The other day, when my niece was over, I started coloring along with her in her coloring book, and I really enjoyed it. I think I’m going to order some adult coloring books soon,” declared a friend recently.

“Adult coloring book? Really?” I asked, somewhat aghast. “Why don’t you try painting instead? Keep it abstract if you like. I can teach you the basics and you’re good to go!”

“No darling, I’m not good at all that.”

There is so much more to creativity than adult coloring books. Explore art journaling with me.

And this, right here, is why I believe adult coloring books have become such a huge fad.

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Moving into fear

Basic painted face

A quick face painted with acrylics

How do you deal with fear? A lot of people will tell you it’s only by moving into whatever it is that you fear that you can overcome it. But how do you move into what you fear? How do you go boldly (or not so boldly) ahead into a situation that gives you the shivers? I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t have a clue.

Then, I took up painting. And as I tried and experimented and failed and tried again, I realized – this is how you move into fear!

You move into fear by sticking with something even when you’re scared and have no idea what the hell you’re doing. It means taking a piece you don’t like and working it until you do. And if you still don’t like it, chalking it up to experimenting and experience, and then cutting it up to use as the base of another piece, so you can reframe and redo.Continue reading→