The Joy of Painting

There is nothing like taking things for granted to then realise what you have lost. I have been battling with an arm and hand injury to my dominant side for over a month now. As both a practitioner and teacher of art, that is a very limiting and tragic thing indeed. There is work to be made and people to be taught and yet pain gets in the way. It is still one step forward and two steps back and I have to be very careful about what I do.

In this time, I have been working digitally which has been interesting and something of a saviour. Yesterday however, I finally attempted some painting. The simple joy of playing with colour, holding a brush and just being free was truly joyful. I paint for many reasons; mainly to express and communicate. It is a need.

Sometimes (physical pain aside) painting can be a battle. When I switched recently from having worked in a channelled way for a period of time and then went back to creating intuitively, I really struggled. What used to be well…intuitive…became convoluted and I was not loving the results. It made me feel stuck and like I was struggling – painting myself into a corner and trapped by the sameness of my own mark making. Perhaps it is a good idea to remain agile and not get stuck on the idea of using or relying on a particular painting process for any period of time.

Freeing up can be tricky at times and paintings can sometimes feel as though something has been partially expressed but not fully, as though there is more trapped inside. Just leaning into being experimental and creating with no rules is refreshing.

I feel drawn to continue experimenting with mark making and exploring the connection between channelled work, intuitive work and the non-figurative.