Go with the Flow!
One of my morning watercolor wonders…
‘Morning Pages’ are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing done first thing in the morning. The practice is designed to open creative flow (Julia Cameron popularized the idea in her 1992 book, The Artist’s Way).
I’ve failed repeatedly in my attempts to establish this practice. I rarely write longhand and my journal is a digital one.
I’m bad at Morning Pages.
I’m also totally okay with that.
Instead!
I do a mediative yoga-ish dance every morning and make watercolor art as a flow practice—that’s my version of Morning Pages.
I begin my art-making by splashing watercolor across paper—blues, purples, forest greens, deep reds—and then I walk away, allowing the pigment to splay in unexpected directions and be absorbed by the paper in its own time.
This process reminds me to let go of outcomes
and to allow the creative process to develop on its own.
It’s a daily practice that’s whimsical and ephemeral—the shapes and splashes and whirls of color are influenced by the movement of putting pigment to paper. This is expressionistic energy flow work—it’s an improvisational practice that shares a physicality with vocal sounding and singing. I bring my attention to the way breath initiates movement—the same attentiveness and connection to breath that powers my voice.
Everything counts in a creative practice and painting is one way that I keep imaginative and musical energy moving through my life.
After dancing and painting, I then begin my vocal work by laying on the floor, the earth beneath me and the sky above…
Enjoy a few watercolors from my Morning Art-ing & a Misha Music Mini to go with!
AND!
Here’s a little Houstonhenge
with a Misha Music Mini for you from Monday’s Equinox!
A fragment of my dreamy end-of-summer song, Last Cicada — stream it on Bandcamp here (or find it on your fave music streaming platform).