Day 20 — 30 Day Art Project — Mixed Media on Canvas Paper – 11 x 14

I’m not sure which is more fun — consecutive days of art-making or several days in a row of writing Haiku.

I found myself writing a Haiku in my sleep, waking up with the words in my head, jotting them down in the night.

I love the simple nature of them. It is a wonderfully exciting creative challenge to create deeper meaning through the words, while staying true to the 5-7-5 structure of Haiku.

This is the same tree that was in the painting for Day 19 — except this time, instead of mono-printing the stencil I’d created onto the canvas, I collaged it into the painting.

And then… I kept diving into the piece, adding colour and design elements until I had to give myself permission to stop. It was midnight. It was time to go to bed.

That’s the thing about art-making. It is a constant lesson in letting go — of my desire to make meaning. Art. Something happen.

It reminds me to breathe deeply in the beauty of now. To be still in the wonder of this moment.

It teaches me to simply be in the moment. To be present to what is appearing on the canvas and to not ‘try’ to make it into something, but rather, to simply let it be as it becomes what it is calling to be.

When I started working on this piece yesterday (and yes, I am not abiding to the 30 minute timeframe and am simply going with the flow) I was actually working to a Haiku that had appeared in my mind about the sun.

That one will have to wait for another day — see, constant lessons in letting go appear as I dive into the art of being present and expressing my creative essence.

And at a deeper level, I am grateful for how this mini series of tree paintings is reminding me of the power of ‘surrender’.

Life is filled with opportunities to learn and grow.

Growth is sometimes painful.

Faced with its challenges and sometimes painful reminders of my own human frailties, surrender is all I can do. Again and again.

Without surrender, my mind will construct stories where I am the victim and the perpetrator. The oppressor and the oppressed.

Without surrender, I forget where I belong and give up my right to celebrate my own worth.

Without surrender, I fear falling and flying free.

Surrendering, I let go of my fear of falling and give into the power of Love to hold me and those I Love in its grace so that the past is simply the path that brought us here to this moment where we can grow deeper in Love.

Namaste