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The Painting Experience

Where the act of creating is more important than the outcome...

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Explore the Process

Where the goal is the journey itself...

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Where you can transcend the rules
and go beyond who you thought you were...

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Listen to Stewart Cubley explore the potential of the emerging field of process arts.

It’s more than creativity. It’s transformation. ~ Gail Baker

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The Painting Experience is supported by a vital community of past and present painters. Visit our blog to experience the results of painting for process.

The Method is Play....The Potential is Freedom

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Life, Paint & Passion

Stewart Cubley is coauthor of the highly acclaimed book Life, Paint & Passion: Reclaiming the Magic of Spontaneous Expression.

The Book: Life, Paint and Passion: Reclaiming the Magic of Spontaneous Expression

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COVID UPDATE

The Painting Experience

Empowering people to lead more courageous and meaningful lives through the practice of process painting.

What is Process Painting?

Explore the Process

Process painting makes the experience of painting more important than the outcome. When the pressures to perform, produce or succeed are removed, magic happens.

 

See Our Programs

The Painting Experience is an opportunity to embark on the greatest of all human adventures—embracing your own path and confidently following it.

Visit Our Blog

The process painting workshops are for educators, counselors, artists, activists, meditators and mavericks. No prior art experience or training is necessary - only your willingness to explore.

The Painting Experience Process

In these process painting workshops, you'll be given the support to:

 

More about process painting...

Step inside a workshop and experience beginner's mind!

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Creativity Coaching

The Community

The Painting Experience has grown from modest beginnings in 1976 to many thousands of painters worldwide today. The community is a diverse group of individuals that value the creative process and recognize it as central to a fulfilling life. Participation in the community takes many forms:

We hope you’ll find the level of involvement that feels right to you, and we welcome you to the rich discussions and in-depth experiences that await you within The Painting Experience Community.

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COVID UPDATE

  • ON-SITE EVENTS

    The Painting Experience has restarted on-site workshops and retreats. Depending on the retreat center, certain covid precautions will be required. We look forward to seeing you in one of our in-person retreats.

    ONLINE EVENTS

    We have a robust schedule of online painting classes and online weekend workshops as well as our popular online course, The Principles of Process Arts and The Art of Facilitating. Stay tuned for other opportunities coming soon.

    To support you in the transition to online painting, here’s a link to the blog post Getting Ready To Paint At Home.

    Please stay safe and do not hesitate to reach out to us by email at office@processarts.com.

    Stewart Cubley & The Painting Experience Staff

  • What is Process Painting?

  • Some people speak of a sudden event that forever alters the way in which they perceive the world, including who they are in it. Others seek out extreme situations that tax their bodies and minds in order to break down and hopefully break free. But for most of us the journey home is a series of close approaches to and seeming retreats from the unfathomable mystery held within our own present experience.

    The opportunity that process painting offers is to fully inhabit the moment right now just as it is. It's a practice that requires us to drop the insane rush toward the imagined goal and to discover being at home with ourselves. The transformation that occurs when we touch our creative essence is nothing short of miraculous. There’s an expansiveness in which the circumstances of our lives are held differently, and our world appears in its potential rather than it's limitation. For a moment at least, we perceive the incredible mystery of existence, and we know what it means to accept our place in the scheme of things.

    There is no formula by which the creative impulse will manifest in any individual's life, but its birth requires a clear environment for exploration. First, there needs to be a safe, supportive space in which we can begin to escape the tyranny of expectation and let down the defenses we’ve erected around our own deep listening. Next is the courage to look at those areas where we’re challenged, to stand our ground when we come to the edge. And then there’s the integration, where we set down the brush and take up the task of living. For the painting process is but a metaphor, its purpose is to lift us beyond the palette and to meet our lives with fresh eyes.

    ~ Stewart Cubley