Watercolor Meditation Bonus: FLOW-ers

I hope you've been having a terrific time playing around with watercolor over the last few weeks and that these meditations brought you some peace, calm and focus during this crazy time of year.

I know the name of this last meditation is a pun, but it was a way to remember the purpose of the meditation so you won't get caught up in the stress of trying to paint perfect flowers.

The point is to play. Let things flow. Just watch and see what happens. Look for the wabi-sabi.

Bonus Meditation: FLOW-ers

Remember it's all about relaxing and letting things flow.

Take a deep breath and relax.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Relax your shoulders. Relax your arms and hands.

Breathe. You are going to have so much fun!

The purpose of this meditation is to put a few of the previous activities together in a fun way.

Gather your materials:

You will be able to use these few materials for all of the activities in the series.

Watercolor pigments: Tubes, pans, or sets. Whatever is easy for you to get and use. Make sure you like the colors. [You can also use coffee or tea if that's all you have close by.] If you have tubes, then you'll need an old plate or lid to use as a palette.
Paper: Any size mixed media paper or watercolor paper. Thicker watercolor paper won't buckle if you decide to use a lot of water in one of these activities. You'll need at least one sheet for each activity, but you'll probably have so much fun with some of these that you'll just keep playing. 6 x 6 inches or so is a nice size. Big enough to play, but not be too intimidating. If you have larger paper and want to cut it down, go right ahead. [You can also use a napkin if that's all you have close by.]
Brush: Any watercolor brush will do. Size 8 or 10 round is good for starters. [You can also use a straw, spoon, etc. if that's all you have close by.]
Water jar: To clean your brush in. A recycled food jar is great. Pint sized is great.
Salt: Any type, any size.

MEDITATION: Painting FLOW-ers

We're going to use the activities you played with in the other meditations to make a flower. Remember, it's all about the FLOW. It doesn't have to match anything you see in real life. This is just for fun.

Choose two similar colors for the petals: 2 reds/pinks, 2 blues, 2 yellow/gold/oranges...
Paint a circle with clear water, leaving the center dry, just as you did in the OBSTACLES meditation.
Enlarge the circle with paint, leaving the outside edges irregular, like petals. Alternate your colors, leaving some lighter places and some darker places.
Choose a color for the center: Yellow, orange, purple, blue. You can't choose wrong.
Put some of that color into the center. It's OK if flows into the other colors as it did in the FLOW and OPPOSITES meditations.. This is just for fun.
Now sprinkle some salt into the center as you did for the RESISTANCE meditation.
Let it dry.
Play. Try it with different colors.

In the photo at the top of this section, I used a pink and a red for the petals and yellow for the center. You can see the puddles on the sides and how the yellow blended right in to the side.

This is what it looked like dry:

Here are some others that I've played with:

Oranges & yellows with a purple center: [The purple changes as it blends.]

Reds with a dark blue center, still wet:

Once they are dry, look them over and find the perfect in the imperfect as you did in the WABI SABI meditation.

This is the joy of watercolor.

Thank You

Thanks so very much for spending some time with me today. I hope you've used these meditations to relax and put some calm in your day. Please feel free to forward them to anyone who will enjoy them. If you have a question, observation or photo you want to share, I'd love to hear from you!

Email me.