Several of the art activities during the Spiritual Artist Retreat involved pairing up with other artists for mark making exercises while Chris Miller played music.  Each of us would take turns marking the paper.  Would we work together or separately on the drawing?  Results varied! 

But I can say that one partner and I ended up drawing a butterfly on a leaf.  No words spoken or planning made that happen.  It merely involved going with the flow. 

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We also did a fun exercise where Chris photocopied one of the artist’s paintings and we were told to enhance the artwork.  I operate in the Town of Oblivion, just outside of Reckless Abandon.  Somehow, I became so engrossed with my artwork that I didn’t notice the original artwork on the page.  Oops. Sorry George.

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Not one to miss a late-night opportunity to create, I continued to experiment with the paints and techniques with a couple other artists, long after the others had called it a day.  I had just begun a cool new piece with black and blue streaks, when my friend Crystal declared she was tired. 

I looked at her and said, “Here.  Take my art piece and do whatever you want to it.”

Crystal:  “Really?”

“Yes.”

Then she took a blank page, added paint and handed it to me. 

We both began a journey into the creative unknown.  The outcome was marvelous.  What is curious is that our techniques and styles are completely different, yet the two art pieces go well together.

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The next day I heard a classmate, Janice, wanting to push herself to be freer with her painting.  I looked at her calmly and said, “do you want to try something new?”

Excitedly, I grabbed a blank page and instructed her to add some paint.  I did the same on my blank page.  Then we traded.

This is what I painted before trading with Janice.

This is what Janice painted before trading with me.

My words to her:  “Have fun.  Do ANYTHING.  Whatever you want.  Explode.  Unleash.  IT DOES NOT MATTER!”

Janice looked at the streaks of paint colors on the paper I gave her.  Not her favorite colors. 

“I know.” I replied.  “I observed your previous artwork!”

Janice began her adventure and the outcome was stellar.  We both marveled at our artwork – both were different yet they look great together.  Both of us had a sense of accomplishment.  Both of us have each other’s brushstrokes as the foundation of the artwork and quite possibly those brushstrokes symbolize a break from our old ways of approaching art. 

Thank you, Janice for the opportunity to go on a creative journey with you!  May you always feel free and adventurous. 

On a creative high, I pondered aloud who my next “victim” would be.

“Hi George!  Do you want to try something new?”

And off to the races we went.  I could have done this exercise ALL DAY!

Below is what I painted before trading with George:

Below is what George painted before trading with me:

The results of our trade!

Thank you, Chris Miller, for the setting, resources and inspiration to explore!