The Painting Experience Blog
Everything Changes: Impermanence and Process Painting
After so many years of painting, somehow it really hit me that from the moment we start a painting, impermanence starts, too. I began painting with The Painting Experience in the mid-1980s. After that, I started a meditation practice, studying Buddhist principles and psychology. I took a long break from painting and when I began [...]
Boredom Is No Big Deal
Expressing the Sacred
We are delighted to offer this guest post by Amy Kisei Costenbader. Kisei is an ordained Zen priest who currently lives and practices at Great Vow Zen Monastery, where she has resided since 2010. She also teaches meditation at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Respect, Stewart says, is accepting what arises and going with it, [...]
Connecting With Your Own Energy
After creating a safe and spacious environment, working with energy is a facilitator’s primary tool. The energy determines how you move within that space -- for example, the questions you might ask and the suggestions you might offer to a painter. ~ Stewart Cubley, from "Working With the Tool of Energy," a talk available in [...]
Process Painting Through Grief
My dear old 94-year-old Dad died in late September. After the initial grief and busy-ness, including helping my 91-year-old Mom resettle, I was exhausted. I noticed my mood fluctuating between sadness and grief and feeling pretty flat. By flat, I mean not quite numb, but in a kind of re-orienting or integrating state. Soon afterward, [...]
Safe Place, Sacred Space
“An artmaking space is a “mishkan” a portable sanctuary. Each artist working there is alone with her image and the message it brings as well as being in a subtle communion with others in the space. (…) The witness of others and our ability to struggle alongside them deepens our engagement in the process. Safety [...]
Radical Innocence
The first encounter with painting is often a delight and a surprise. Each color is a delicious revelation; strangely satisfying forms appear; we’re amazed and fascinated by the mysterious images that emerge. And the room feels safe—a supportive, inspirational community of people working together at their growing edge with no obvious comparison or judgment in [...]
Don’t Paint Whale — Paint Whaleness!
Recently, Lisa Pedersen reminded us of this brief and very lively excerpt from a talk that Stewart gave at a workshop in Southern California. In the following conversation with a workshop participant, Stewart brings to life that moment when we are asked to take a courageous leap by painting something we think we can't. In other [...]
Trusting Your Intuitive Intelligence
We’re happy to offer the following guest post by Jean Matlack of Rockport, Maine. Jean is a participant in our online course, Introduction to Facilitating Process Arts. She first posted these reflections as a comment on the course material and we felt so touched by her insights that we asked to share them here. Thank [...]
Facing Resistance in Painting
“An important time to paint is when you resist it the most. The strength of the aversion means that there is something just beneath the surface, thinly disguised, ready to emerge. Resistance is a reminder to probe your inner fears and defenses . . . . If you find yourself experiencing resistance, ask: What would [...]