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Images & Stories of Healing Art


Dorothy


Dorothy was a student in one of my healing art classes. She spent 6 weeks sitting at the table without participating in any of the art activities. She was pleasant and talkative, but she always avoided the exercises. I was perplexed as to why she kept coming back. I didn't know it yet, but Dorothy was going to be my teacher and gift me with a great lesson....

Click here to read more about Dorothy.


Lisa


My friend, Lisa, who is the creator of this website, is also a painter. One day, as we were looking at her paintings, she told me the story of a particular painting. As we spoke, it occurred to me how often we go through traumas -- large and small -- that need healing. I also realized how often we naturally utilize art and self-expression to work with issues,  even if we don't label or call it healing art.
 

Click here to read more about Lisa.

 

Marge


After doing some lecture and warm up exercises, I often ask my students to think of a situation in their lives that needs healing energy. They write down their intentions and I begin to lead them through my process for creating intuitive paintings.

"Marge" was a student in one of my classes at Chautauqua Institution. She looked tired and fragile on some level, but was clearly engaged in her life. She sat quietly & attentively through the classes, but she had not shared her situation with me or the class at this point.

During our intuitive painting exercise, she began to paint a large red circle in the center of her canvas, and kept painting the red area over and over. As I walked around the room, I noticed she was stuck.

"Everyone else is just painting and I don't know what to do next," she said....

Click here to read more about Marge.

 


Healing Images


This is a healing art image that I drew about a year ago. I began by identifying my immediate feeling regarding a particular issue in my life which -- in imagistic terms -- was a small vulnerable shape sitting unknowingly in the mouth of a dangerous creature. I had a sense that something was wrong, but I could not see what it was.

Then I asked my body to give me a healing image.....

Click here to read more about this healing image.
 

 

Intuitive Paintings

I  love to sit outside in the sun and play with my oil pastels. Last spring, I decided to make one drawing each day. After a few days, I noticed the images looked surprisingly similar. They seemed significant in some way, but all I could verbalize was that they looked "cellular and microscopic."

At the same time, I was having problems with infections and feeling sick when I ate. It felt as if I was not absorbing food correctly. I was gaining weight and had abdominal pain. I had been desperately trying to figure out what was wrong, and had visited many doctors without much luck.

It took awhile, but one day I looked at the drawings and finally knew what they meant. I saw a gastrointestinal doctor and discovered that I had a bacterial infection in my intestines and that my stomach and intestinal lining had been damaged. I also learned that I had a serious reaction to certain foods, such as onions and yeast.

Once I began treatment, I began to feel much better and quickly lost 25 pounds. The last image was done several weeks later. I was not fully conscious of it then, but afterwards I realized that it was part if this series. It looked balanced and healthy.

The series is a testament to my body's wisdom. The process had taught me that I didn't need to have a conscious intention to receive information, only a willingness to show up at the drawing tablet and pay attention.

 

Partner Paintings

Years ago, I discovered that it was extremely interesting to paint with someone else on the same surface. With partnership paintings, I have developed a process through which I guide the participants. It often ends as a sort of dance between people, paint and images.



This image was created by myself and my friend Cindy, and it taught me something about healing art. As we painted together, we were silent. At one point the experience began to shift into something that seemed like a lightly altered state. As I painted jagged lines, Cindy would take her brush and begin to soften the edges of my line and make them more curved.

I soon realized I could actually feel her brushstrokes inside my body. Though I have no explanation for it, I could feel the movement within myself. Tears came to my eyes as I realized she was literally softening something jagged inside of me.

 

Mandalas

Mandalas are sacred circles of power and healing, and they come in traditional as well as modern forms. There are countless ways to create mandalas, and many cultures have done so for centuries.

I like to create mandalas in colored pencil, but have also used many other mediums with my students, such as sand, paint, oil pastel and collage.