We are going through terrible times. war time. There are no words to describe the horror. the pain, the frustration, the worry. The mood is bad. The only thing I manage to gather energy for, is doing things for others, like the Freestyle Painting workshops I led in several refugee centers. I don't know who benefits more from this activity, me or them.
And yet - I can't bring myself to go to my own creative studio.
The workshop's aim is letting go. I make a big knight's table and put one long paper on top of it. Boxes with pastel paints and pencils are scattered on the paper. Participants enter. Children. parents. Some of them sit down, most prefer to stand around the table. The music starts playing. Instrumental music, rhythmic but pleasant, which seems to enter the soul and begins to move the body, and the painting...
This is a collaborative painting. No expectations no criticism. Just enjoying the process.
Together with them, I also begin to immerse myself to playing with the paint. But I'm there for them.
I, who have been doing it for years, know the power of freestyle painting. I know its potential to release from pressure, release from perfectionism, release from criticism... release.
Slowly it is happening. They move along the table. Paint in a different place each time. Connecting to the marks of the person next to them. smiling. When the activity ends there are also those who simply stay. Want a little more. That's a sign that we succeeded 😊
When we experience this activity in a one-time way, we feel it on one level, and when we immerse ourselves to a continuous process, we feel it on a completely different level. It's a reality-changing process.
They say that when the guns roar the muses are silent. I find it true.
I decide that I must not give up on myself.
Not waiting for the muse, I enter the studio. Something will happen.