The Medium and the Medium

In the summer of 1994, I went to a woman of psychic talents with two questions. At the time, I had a green boot box (bigger than a shoe box) with tubes of oil paints that I had not touched in 10 years. My questions were, Should I paint? Or, should I throw the paints away?

That might seem like one question with two parts, but, to me, they were entirely two questions because the answers could be life changing. This or that?

Her answer was, "Oh, yes, you must paint. You are an artist. You have been an artist in many life times."

Well, I didn't feel like an artist and I denied being an artist and we went back and forth about it and then she introduced me to my spirit art guide. Whoa. OK, now I was feeling like I was floating in salt water, but that's another story.

My point is, I opened the green box of oil paints and I began to begin. To back up a moment, the paints were left over from classes I had taken at the university in my town. I had only ever painted in a class setting. I wasn't the child who drew all the time. I didn't "think" with a pencil and was constantly making pictures. Actually, I "think" in words and have to force myself to "picture" the words in order to make a painting. I have to be able to "see" it before I can paint it.

So taking this green box off the shelf was a really big deal. I decided I wasn't going to take a class to get back into painting. I told myself I had plenty of instruction (or was it my guide talking?) and it was time to let the medium (paints, brushes, etc., not the psychic) be the teacher.

Back then, I was totally terrified. It was lots of things. The responsibility, the fear of failure, the fear of success, the "what if"s, the blank canvas, the unknown. Looking back, it's like, geez it wasn't heart surgery, but it was huge for me then.

I learned some important stuff:

• Set up a space for your art. I ended up finding a space to rent.
• Be in your art space every day. Even if you're not creating something physically, you are creating something psychically.
• You can be your own teacher. Work with the materials and pay attention to what they tell you. Yellow paint will tell you something different than blue paint. They are as different as yellow and blue.
• Trust what you "hear". Your guide/s are talking to you. If it's different from what you'd say, then it's them taking.
• Take a chance -- do what they say. Some call it experimenting. I call it listening.
• There are no mistakes. Everything is a next step.
• Be grateful. Love what you are doing, making, being.
• You'll get better. Better and better. Better than ever.