Painting From the Heart. What I learned from my five year old

 “Angel Painting” by Kai Duckett, 5 years old

Being authentic to who you are as a person and as an artist takes time and practice. There are times as an artist where I revert back to old patterns of what I think people will like or what will be accepted. This is when my art lacks that inner glow or illumination. It often looks stiff or as artists call it “over-worked.” Overworked with too much thought and not enough emotion and heart. It is often not from the heart but the head.

At times I will go back to these old patterns of not being true to my inner artist. When I am in these places I feel lost, and beyond frustrated.  Recently, I was finding myself in this place once again. It was my five year old that reminded me of the process of painting from the heart. He just sat down and started painting, not with thought and emphasis on the finished project. He approached the process with an eagerness to accept whatever inspiration was to be reflected back to him. He allowed the process to work its magic and he was the instrument for it happening on paper. He was working from his heart or center and letting the colors flow from within.

Matthew  Fox in the book “Creativity”  says it best “when we create we are pouring gifts of being back into the universe itself. This pouring of being into the universe is a joyful act and ecstatic art (Fox, 141).” I like this imagery of pouring our being or authentic self onto the paper. The art than becomes a reflection of who you truly are.  As our lives change art can be a way of redefining who we are.  Redefining who you are with art can be liberating. Because, once we live our life from a place that is true to who we are not what we think we should be doing, we are living the hand crafted life. A life that resonates with who we truly are. The inside matches the outside.

As children we naturally live our lives this way it is only as we age we forget. It was watching my son and his process that reminded me of living the hand crafted life . When I asked him about it he said “mom don’t listen to your brain but your heart and bones.” He continued to tell me that the “brain has its own ideas. And the heart tells you what colors to use. If you paint it does not matter if it changes. Allow the change. Spill yourself out of your heart and  just paint.”