Painting in Mid-Air: The Messiness of Letting Go

Painting in Mid-Air: The Messiness of Letting Go

"It is not possible to complete yourself without sorrow." ~ Hafiz Last April, I began an enormous and purposeful transition in my life. I left my long career in residential architecture to explore the direct experience of creativity, and its healing potential. I soon felt like my life was out of control, derailed and barreling [...]
Creating Outside the Lines

Creating Outside the Lines

It's hard to believe, but I've been posting to Facebook for The Painting Experience for almost eleven years. We have a large number of Facebook followers -- about 64,000 -- but because of the way its algorithms work, Facebook shows each of our posts to only about 300-1,000 of those folks. Every now and then, [...]
Q & A: How Is Following the Energy Different From Compulsion?

Q & A: How Is Following the Energy Different From Compulsion?

We receive some great, provocative questions about painting for process rather than product and we'd like to occasionally share them on this blog. We'll start with a question a painter recently sent to Stewart about "following the energy" and his answer in return . . . I have been intently listening to your podcasts. I'm [...]
Creative Challenge As Initiation

Creative Challenge As Initiation

Homesick for moderation, Half the world’s artists shrink or fall away. If any find solution, let him tell it. Meanwhile I bend my heart toward lamentation Where, as the times implore our true involvement, The blades of every crisis point the way. I would it were not so, but so it is. Who ever made [...]
Everything Changes: Impermanence and Process Painting

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 [...]