“I am not an artist”- words usually spoken quite emphatically, laced with shame and self-doubt-or at least a disclaimer. I know because they used to be my words [and still are, sometimes]. Put a canvas in front of me five years ago and you would have seen me freeze like one of Minnesota’s ten-thousand lakes. It’s different now. It can be different for you too.
Maybe you were teased in elementary school art classes, or told you are not creative. Maybe your creative expression was evaluated rather than enjoyed. Or maybe creative expression was deemed a waste of time and non-productive. For whatever reason, most of us have a fear or shame response to the prospect of creative expression.
What if art became a friend rather than foe? What if it were not about the product but the process? What if we were to let go of performance and truly honor what shows up on the page? What if we stopped forcing and began to simply release what is bubbling up inside?
Artistic Soul Care is simply that. It is letting creative expression become a friend. It values the process of the expression. There are no expectations, no grade. Artistic Soul Care honors what shows up on the page. We don’t force, but rather allow ourselves to release what has for so long been inside, a sort of painted prayer to a God who hears.
In certain seasons, it can be difficult to find words to express a certain pain, experience, or relationship. It is in these moments that we let color, shape, and metaphor speak for us. For, when that which has been trapped inside comes into the light, it is then that healing can begin to take place.
