I haven’t had any connection for the past couple days hence the zero posting, it’s really amazing how much we rely on the internet. We don’t really live real lives anymore do we? No internet would be a great time to force oneself to go out, take a walk… look at nature for a while but alas I couldn’t do that either. I was man down for the past two days, some kind of tummy bug hit me hard and it’s been a long time since I threw up, my body was not a happy chappy. I accept this though, I obviously needed to slow down, slow down my thinking and my actions. I got sick, the internet stopped working and I was forced to sleep. When looking at it like that, it’s all blessings in disguise.
So, when you get sick, or life throws a curve ball be thankful because the universe is always looking out for us. Often times when things go wrong it’s a blessing and a time to grow.
Today I have been emotional, and I have been pondering those emotions. I decided to draw them, just doodling in my sketchbook. I found that the predominant emotions sticking out were guilt, sadness and strangely enough, happiness. The emotions are pretty conflicting. So, I drew them, I added different colours… I gave the emotions faces and personalities. After a while I felt better, I could take a deep breath and think of other things.
The art wasn’t pretty or perfect but it was effective. I think this is how I’ll be handling my emotions from now on. If I feel a certain way, I’ll draw it.
I invite you guys to do the same, perhaps it will make a difference.
I wonder if this is just me, but when I find myself spacing out I sometimes go into a yoga space. I see myself doing yoga. In a way it is part of my yoga goals process. I really want to get back to where I was a couple years ago in my practice, be able to relax into the poses I struggle with today. I want to be able to forward fold and relax completely. I of course never push myself. I accept where I am physically and what I am capable of but I like to see myself as relaxed and flexible in every way. When I space out this is what I see. One day I will get there again but I find it helpful to see it in my mind too. To experience it, even if it’s just spiritually. I do things like this often. I suppose it’s kind of like a meditation, where I focus on goals or the things that bring me joy. I see it happening in the present, and I naturally pour beautiful emotions into those thoughts and those imaginings. I would encourage people to try this for themselves. Take anything that brings joy and see it in your minds eye, enjoy it even though it’s only happening in your head. So to conclude, I didn’t physically do yoga today, but I did experience yoga today and it was beautiful.
I find it amazing how colours come to me during my practice. I move into child’s pose and all I see is blue. When relaxing into saddle I see yellows. Or settling into warrior, I see orange. The colours just come and settle over me. Then after my practice I go and get my canvas. I lay on the paint, I make sure it’s think and bright. I move my brush over the paint, spreading it. by the time the second colour joins the first, my hand takes the place of the brush. I blend and smudge. I join the paints and I add white, some of the colours lighten, become pastel. It’s a beautiful process.
Inspiration through movement. A colour for each pose. A peaceful mind.
I highly recommend art or yoga, or both! It is a life changer. Even if you are a beginner, if you are clumsy, if you can’t draw a straight line. None of that matters! A beginner is a beginner and that’s wonderful. The process of learning is beautiful and before you know it, you will be flowing, you will be confidant and you will look back and smile at your process. Give it a go.
Another day has gone by and I didn’t do any abstract work today! I sat and did two paintings as per usual, but they turned out to be cute little chibi style characters. I will post those soon. I think they’re cute. I just go with the flow with my art.
I have been in such a strange mood lately, the only thing that helps is painting. Last night I had already gotten into bed after a lovely night of Doctor Who and out of nowhere all my past regrets and the truth of illness in my family just came crumbling down on me. In that moment, holding in my sobs I knew I had to paint, I needed to get this emotion out. Alas I didn’t have anything to paint with and all my stuff was outside, locked away. I was faced with the dilemma of trying to drag myself from bed, stop wallowing, unlocking everything and going outside to get my things! (My studio is outside…) All of that just sounded like a hassle and I rather watched a youtube video of one of my favorite artists. Close enough.
The point is, even just watching the flow of paint was enough to calm me down. Pretty amazing if you ask me. Anyway, I do realise just how random this post is but I wanted to write it down. It seemed relevant.
I’ll post those pictures now. Feel free to let me know what calms you down when the heaviness of the world falls on you.
You know that feeling when you get up all energised and ready to work? You open your eyes and you are determined and then one small thing happens and you allow negativity to dictate how the rest of your day will go.
Then you get the days when you wake up feeling pretty normal, not especially excited or energised but you’re also not despising the day before it starts. You know you have certain things to get done and you’re happy to preform those tasks.
Then come the days (few and far between for me) where you get up, you get it all done. You are happy, your are energised, you are kicking ass! Nothing gets you down, nothing can ruin your day… those are nice days.
I don’t know about you but the most common thing for me, is waking up with all the grand ideas and great intentions, neither happy nor sad… Just tired… very tired. I wake up and I know what I want to do and I know what I need to do. I always get what I need to do done but I never get to what I want. Entirely my fault ofcourse, because I procrastinate, I sit in a heap and wallow about how tired I am. That’s when I really need to kick myself and do yoga, or pick up a paintbrush. Never get lost in feeling tired because that just amplifies it, as with any other thought or emotion that you put passion behind. Today wasn’t any of these examples funnily enough. Today was like a mixture between the tired day and the first example. I got stuff done all day, but when one tiny thing set me off track, then I’d fall down in a tired heap. What a silly day.
But I do believe in celebrating small achievements as well as huge achievements. So Lets look at that.
I made my bed!
I ate food!
I painted two pictures! (I’ll post them soon.)
I have made dinner!
I know what you must be thinking- There’s no yoga on that list! No, I didn’t just forget to add it, I didn’t do any yoga today and you know what? That’s okay. My body is still very sore from a workout I did a couple days ago….(I over did it) and we must never punish ourselves for taking a break. I did my Yin yesterday and now I just want to relax my body and my mind. I will try to look past the tiredness and just enjoy the small achievements of the day.
Do this for yourself. Don’t bully yourself, be gentle with yourself. If you manage to do anything in a day, no matter how small or trivial, congratulate yourself, you deserve it.
Today in class we focused on grounding. It is late summer here, so grounding is key.
During meditation, nature featured heavily and I felt full of joy. I mainly practice Yin Yoga and Hatha Yoga. I go to class for Yin, I just love the energy and the flow of a Yin class. I also happen to have the best teacher ever!
When I got home I immediately got two canvas’s ready. Small ones so I got two paintings done today. The colours I was attracted to was teal, pink and red, tiny bit of yellow. I’m still on the abstract side of art, I’m just going with the flow. I’m allowing myself to express my feelings that come up in practice. I usually use the colours that come up for me during my practice. The paint I choose to use will depend on the flow of my practice. Sometimes I feel like watercolour and other times I’ll go for acrylic, do I want to use a lot of water or no water? Do I want something flat and opaque or do I want something textured and shiny? My practice answers these questions for me.
I have already posted the pictures of my new pieces in the gallery but I’ll post them here too.
Hello, My name is Cat and I’m not going to make this a long post. I just wanted to say hello.
I look forward to posting about my practice and the art I create. I will speak about my thoughts and my experiences. My life is messy but it can be beautiful. I ultimate goal would be to post everyday, but I will settle for three times a week at least. I hope that is acceptable.
Hi, My name is Cat and this is my blog, Paint and My Mat.
When I do Yoga, when I step onto my mat and practice the flows and movements of my body and my mind I become inspired. So I allow it all to flow out of me and onto a canvas or paper. I’m a painter, my favorite mediums are Oils, Watercolour and Gouache. I paint all day long and I want to share my experiences and thoughts with you.
So here’s to the future of this blog and my journey with my practice.
Paint and My Mat 