The Artist's Way: Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection

Last night was Week Ten of the current session of the Artist's Way - only two sessions to go. The ladies are already discussing withdrawal from their Tuesday night group and expressing sadness over our Creative Cluster coming to an end.

Sinatra, the Alley Cat, made only a brief appearance very late in the evening. But can you guess who arrived early and eagerly awaited for the group to begin? Yep, Lisa was there . . .



Silliness aside, last night was one of my favorite activites: Blind Painting. I first experienced this freeing form of painting with Gretchin when I was introduced to the Artist's Way through her Creative Clusters. With this process, the lights are turned out and the ladies are given acrylic paint and told to paint with their eyes closed, swaying to music. The music I always use is Afro Celt Sound System (Volume 5), and the ladies really got into the process. After a period of painting, then looking at their paintings and writing about them, they were given the opportunity to modify their paintings with their eyes open and with the lights on. Here they are playfully changing their art:

And here are their beautiful finished pieces!