Dancing with the Muse

On the magic that unfolds when you silence the inner critic

I’m scared.

Or maybe scared isn’t the right word. Worried, perhaps.

Worried that I only paint intuitively. That all my paintings look the same. That all I seem to paint are faces and figures, or abstracts and botanicals.

That worry has been showing up when I paint.

My attempts at painting are either too tentative, or too frustrated. When I’m tentative, I start off safely, afraid to take any risks, to push a painting until I find gold. When I’m frustrated, I become reckless, and I tip a painting into territory from which it becomes increasingly difficult to rescue it.

But, I’ve had enough of this worrying.

I paint for the love of it. I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone. I have no desire for my paintings to hang at the Louvre, or to sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars.

The truth is, I LOVE to paint intuitively.

I love the dance of the paints across the page. Of making marks and erasing them. Of hiding words and images and symbols under layers of paint.

So this week, I set up an altar for The Muse. I laid out a journal and a few of my favorite paints. I put on a peppy playlist. I danced around the studio. And then, I let my paintbrush dance across the page.

No judgement.

No shoulds.

No questioning.

Just fun.

And curiosity.

And dancing.

And it was glorious!

And from my paintbrush, fell out these three ladies.

And my first thought was, “They’re The Muses!”

Showing up to remind me that when I tune down my anxieties and fears and lead from a sense of play, magic ensues.

Since then, I’ve let curiosity and play lead my painting sessions. And I’ve recaptured that sense of mirth and reverence that I often feel when painting intuitively.

When you tune out your inner critic, your judgmental voice, what magic can you create? Why not try that this week, and tell me what you discover?

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