Overcoming Obstacles

This photo is of early slippery elm seeds. It's another sign that spring is on its way, taking her own sweet time.  Often things happen in their own sweet time and in their own sweet way and we perceive those delays as obstacles.  We wonder if the fact that things aren't going easily is a sign from the universe.  But what does that sign mean?

Maybe it means, 'Be patient.'   Or, 'Try another tack.'  Or, 'This isn't right for you.  Let it go'.   Maybe it doesn't mean anything except they've closed a lane ahead and traffic is slow, 'It's not about you.'

At any rate, obstacles happen all the time.  When I hit an obstacle to my plans, I use this mantra. 

Stay Calm.  Stay Positive.  Think Creatively.

Staying calm allows me to see past the immediate frustration and get a look at the bigger picture, which often isn't about me.  Staying positive helps me not feed ugly drama and keeps me in a place where I'm most likely to notice new strategies and opportunities.  Thinking creatively helps me remember to look for new ways of doing things, new perspectives, new input. 

I cannot tell you the number of 'impossible' situations we've been able to solve or work around by using these ideas.  And in case you're wondering, it took a long time and a lot of practice for me to remember to use this strategy first instead of falling into frustration, rage and despair.   I wish I could tell you some inspirational story about how I made this switch, but the truth is I learned it as a homeschooling parent of a dyslexic.   So many things that had worked with my older daughter just didn't work with my younger.   I didn't want my youngest to associate frustration, rage and despair with her situation, so I came up with the new mantra, wrote it down and whenever we hit a roadblock, I repeated it.  Over and over, until I believed it.  And miracles happened, again and again.  And then it was easy for me to hold onto those ideas and repeat them for her as we got to the really hard stuff in high school and college.   I'm telling you, this stuff really works.

Watercolor Meditation #5: Opposites

This is the time of year when our family differences really show up.   I love lots of holiday music.  One of my kids does not.   Two of us like a little tree, two of us like giant trees.   Some of us like egg nog thick and sticky sweet, some of us like it thinner and less sweet.  I like gift tags, others don't.  Some of us like surprises, some don't. 

There are a lot of opposites this time of year.   This meditation is all about how beautiful that interaction can be.

Watercolor Meditation:  OPPOSITES 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 show what beautiful things happen when opposites interact.   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.  MEDITATION:  OPPOSITES Choose two colors that are very different, or opposite on the color wheel. Here are some good pairs: orange & blue red & green yellow & purple Make puddles of each color on your palette. Thick puddles or thin puddles - like cream or tea.   You choose. Swish your brush around in the plain water.  Get it good and clean and wet. Choose one of the colors you prepared and get some of that paint on your brush.  Don't worry about how much.  You can't do this wrong.  Brush it from one corner of the paper into the center.  Let it flow.  You can add more pigment if you like to make some areas darker.   Swish your brush to clean it and get some of the other color you prepared on your brush.  Don't worry about how much.  You can't do this wrong.  Brush it from the opposite corner of the paper into the center.  Let it flow.   You can add more pigment if you like to make some areas darker.  Let the colors mingle.   You can drop plain water in the center to encourage them to flow.  Watch the colors interact.  Some pairs might blend.  Some colors might push others aside completely.  Just watch. If you like, you can drop the colors on thick in places and watch them interact.  Or thin them with water and watch what happens. Now play. You can't do it wrong.  Put one color in one corner and the opposite color in the other corner.  Pull them toward the center and watch what happens.  Thanks so very much for spending some time with this today.  I hope you've used this meditation to relax and put some calm in your day.  If you have a question, observation or photo you want to share, I'd love to hear from you! Email me.

See all of my classes here.

The other activities in this series:

Meditation #1: Observation

Meditation #2: Flow 

Meditation #3: Resistance

Meditation #4: Obstacles

Meditation #5: Opposition

Meditation #6: Wabi Sabi

Bonus Meditation:  FLOW-ers

Watercolor Meditation #4: Obstacles

This year I've thought a lot about obstacles.  Things that get in my way.  Sometimes  it's other circumstances and people;  sometimes it's me and my emotions.  I like this activity because it clearly demonstrates that obstacles don't have to stop the flow.  The flow just gets redirected for a bit. And that can be a beautiful thing. 

Watercolor Meditation:  Obstacles 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 show you how the water just flows around obstacles.   Watercolor is wet, so anything that is dry is an obstacle.  The paint will flow with the wet every time.  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.  MEDITATION:  OBSTACLES Choose a color or two and make puddles in your palette. Swish your brush around in the plain water.  Get it good and wet. Brush that plain water to make three circles on the paper.   The dry areas in the middle of those circles are your obstacles.   Keep your circles dry and paint in the areas between the circles.  Tilt the paper and watch how the color flows around the obstacles.  Add colors or water as you wish and watch them flow. That's all.  Very simple.  We'll use this process again later in the Meditation series.   Thanks so very much for spending some time with this today.  I hope you've used this meditation to relax and put some calm in your day.  If you have a question, observation or photo you want to share, I'd love to hear from you! Email me. See all of my classes here. The other activities in this series: Meditation #1: Observation Meditation #2: Flow  Meditation #3: Resistance Meditation #4: Obstacles Meditation #5: Opposition Meditation #6: Wabi Sabi Bonus Meditation:  FLOW-ers

Watercolor Meditation #3: Resistance

Hello,  Lovelies!

Tomorrow is DECEMBER, which I can't really even begin to believe.  This year has been so crazy full of things that I still feel upside down.   Isn't July 4th next week?  I'm not ready for deep winter!

I'm feeling some resistance to the whole idea of the roller coaster ride that is the holidays around here.  Soooo - I have a fun watercolor meditation all about resistance.

Resistance is futile, but resistance can also be beautiful!

Watercolor Meditation:  Resistance 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 examine the patterns created by things that resist or disrupt the flow.  We're going to use salt as a resist. 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.  And for this activity, you'll need: Salt:  Any kind, any size.   Table salt, epsom salts, sea salt, rock salt.  MEDITATION:   RESISTANCE Swish your brush around in the plain water.  Get it nice and wet. Choose your favorite color and make a puddle of that color in your palette.  Light or dark, doesn't matter.   Lay some of that color on your paper. Now make another puddle of a color you love.   Lay some of that color next to the first color on your paper.   Doesn't matter how.  Watch them mingle and FLOW. OBSERVE how shiny the paper is when it's really wet and how the shine begins to dull as the water soaks into the paper. Pull out your salt and sprinkle a bit on the dull wet areas and on the shiny areas.   Set it aside flat and in a few minutes come back to see the patterns forming.   Let it dry completely, then brush off the salt to see the results.   Use your imagination - Do the patterns remind you of frost, or flowers, or leaves, or feathers...? Now play. You can't do it wrong.  Lay down the colors and drop the salt in the damp areas.   What's happening on the paper?   Two things:  As the salt dissolves, it creates a resist which pushes the pigment away. In addition, salt draws the water to it, creating little puddles which make patterns as they dry [more on that below]. One more thing... Other things can disrupt the flow of watercolor also.   This is a picture of a backflow, or bloom.   This type of resist happens when there is a very wet puddle surrounded by damp, but much less wet areas.   As the surrounding areas dry, the water is pulled [wicked] back into them from the puddle. The water from the puddle re-wets the paint and pushes it aside as it soaks into those areas.  Blooms make beautiful patterns. Look back on your previous watercolor meditations and see if there are any blooms. Thanks so very much for spending some time with this today.  I hope you've used this meditation to relax and put some calm in your day.  If you have a question, observation or photo you want to share, I'd love to hear from you! Email me.

See all of my classes here.

The other activities in this series:

Meditation #1: Observation

Meditation #2: Flow 

Meditation #3: Resistance

Meditation #4: Obstacles

Meditation #5: Opposition

Meditation #6: Wabi Sabi

Bonus Meditation:  FLOW-ers

So I've been thinking about classes...

Jean Haines has written a terrific book called 'Paint Yourself Calm'.   I've been doing a lot of the activities and I can't say enough good things about it.

Her focus is on using watercolor painting as a type of meditation, if you will, to lift your spirits, center you in the moment, help you exercise mindfulness, etc.


As I was thinking of all I have learned from the book, I really started to want to share it in a way that is collaborative, so that the members of a group can support each other in shifting the focus of an art activity from 'I must make something gorgeous or I'm a failure.' to 'Oh!  Look at what the paint did there!'

So I'm planning a class called 'Watercolor for Relaxation'.   Here's a description.  Please let me know if you'd be interested in a class like this:

Class:  Watercolor for Relaxation

So often we sit down to creative work with the heavy expectation of creating a masterpiece...or at least something that will bring compliments from viewers.  The purpose of this class is to let go of the expectation of creating something perfect and finished and replace it with the calm of simply observing what the paint and water do together.   No expectations, just fun.  

We will play with color, learn how different pigments react with water, experiment with salt and plastic wrap effects, play with abstract compositions and a few other surprises.  

This class is appropriate for all levels of skill, including people who have never touched watercolor before.  [It will probably be hardest for people who are used to trying to paint 'something' instead of just playing].  

Cost:  $60.   Materials included [though you may bring your own things if that is more comfortable.]

Dates:  TBA

Time:  1:30-4:30pm [May go longer if you're having fun]

Location:  Robin's Studio.  6877 E Bland Rd. Solsberry, Indiana