Now Is One Brush Stroke

Every artist knows what its like in front of the blank paper or canvas, its the unknown and fear.  Its a bit redundant to write about that in particular and if you’re not an artist just imagine the last time you tried to cook without a recipe or put together a puzzle without the picture on the box to guide you.  There is something daunting about not knowing how long you will have to stand there painting before it is complete and I realized recently that its very similar to sitting down to meditate.  You have to train the mind to get it to switch off, to resign itself to just be there, to sit on that cushion until the bell sounds or to stand in front of that easel until the painting is as it should be.

In this way we almost have to treat the paint as the mind, each thought that distracts us we must simply recognize it and return to the breath: each stroke that we place on canvas we must simply recognize it and return to the palette, to the scene.  By painting and being with only one stroke of paint at a time we remain in the moment, undaunted by any amount of time or any fears of failure.  With this kind of continued training we can over time learn that our mind is simply a sky of clouds, thoughts just moving by at their own pace with no need or point in us clinging to them or getting stuck on them.  The same with painting there is just a flow of strokes coming from nowhere and leading to nowhere so we can pick up a blank canvas at any moment for any amount of time and without a second thought just jump in. Be well

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