“In order to create there must be a dynamic force, and what force is more potent than love?”

-- Igor Stravinsky

Time to share with you my joy of painting.
Not that I am a very good painter, in fact probably far worse than many of you. I can say I have had a commission or two, though, and even sold some, so I suppose that is something, but that is not the reason I paint.
 

I paint because I just love, I mean LOOOVVEE to do it.
I love the thick 350gm watercolour paper with the crinkly edge.
I love the 'globby' gauche watercolour paints that I use straight from tube.
I love the thick fat brushes that scared me to death when I first started to use them.
I love the crystal clear water in the plastic cup that turns all blooded shades of leaking colour when the brush is washed out.
I love the way you have to be quick or a globule of paint will escape from your brush and fly across the paper to a place you don't want magenta!
I love the way the colours refuse to be contained, insisting on bleeding into each other making new colours as they go.
I love the feeling of expectancy before the first stroke is made.
I love the sense of trust I have to have in the whole creative process to actually make the painting. I usually have no idea what I will be painting until it shows itself on the paper, even if I have used pencils or charcoal to give a faint layout.
I love the sense of flow and discovery I feel as the painting unfolds itself, the timeless wonder I feel of being in the now completely. There is nothing except me and the brush, the paint and the paper. It is such a magical feeling.
I love the way I can put on a piece of music and paint it to life in another medium. Many of my pieces are music inspired. I like the way creative ideas percolate from the depths of me like some bubbling brook and I have to stop what I am doing to capture words before they escape into the ethers.

I get this feeling some time soon my writing of poetry and my painting of abstract are going to meld into one glorious colour-soundscape that expresses pure emotions, pure love and it will be wonderful to have experienced that.

When I paint, as when I write poetry, I am the closest I can be to the Goddess and still be here on earth and for that I am immeasurably grateful. A life without feeling the blush of creation on your cheek is like living in a barren hell.

I hope I have inspired you to go forth and explore for yourself how to express you.
There is no freedom like it in the world.
Bless-sings my friends, bless-sings

~ Melody Green

“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.”

-- Marc Chagall