Space Clearing for Our Hearts 

West Fork Trail, Sedona, AZ ~ 2017, Acrylic on Canvas

Sometimes, if I can’t get to the forest, I paint a memory of one.  For this I rely on old photos of places I’ve been that have brought me serenity and joy, allowing a higher guidance to come through.  Nature gives us the opportunity to be quiet, to reconnect with the earth, ourselves and our relationship with each other.   Here we can listen to the voice of our soul.  Julia Cameron* expresses it so well when she says, “…we clear space in our lives in order to center and clear space in our hearts.  The soul’s voice, the voice of guidance, then ventures into the clearing we have created for it.”

When I paint a memory of a place and how I was feeling at the time, that energy goes into the painting.  If I am successful in that, the energy of the feeling goes back out to the viewer who is sensitive to the energy within the painting.

West Fork trail is in a magical forest – it takes you through meadows, wooded areas and streams deep within it.  The painting, West Fork Trail, captures a small part of my journey during my first exposure to Sedona’s energy back in 2004.  The memory of it and this particular spot was what I wanted to express in this painting.  It hangs in my living room and I can view it from my couch and fall into it’s peacefulness whenever I need to.

Going farther back in time, is this view of a piece of the Hudson River.

Meadow on the Hudson ~ 2015 (Acrylic on two 4×5 canvases)

Meadow on the Hudson  was an experiment in a continuous painting on two small canvases.  It depicts a little scene from when I lived in Massachusetts and took a trip in a vintage red Thunderbird convertible with a passionate artist friend who I was in love with at the time. For me it has a light hearted memory attached to it, with much joy in breathing in this scene in the moment we were there.   A painting can be small and still draw you in to a deeper place.

Finding Serenity captures a moment when the peace of nature with woods and river brings us back to center.  We can breath deeply and let go.   We can reconnect and ground ourselves, remembering the qualities of life that matter most.  One on one time with my daughter was a precious moment.

Finding Serenity 2016 ~ Acrylic on canvas

Take time to nurture yourself.  Treat your creativity as a spiritual practice, drawing from your authentic self by tuning in and painting intuitively from the inspiration you find within yourself.  The joy of expression through painting is an endless process that keeps on giving. 

© Maria Doglio, July 4, 2017

* Excerpt from “The Artist’s way, Every Day” by Julia Cameron