Writers and Artists Retreat — Meditation 44

The week before hurricane Irene, I was in Western Massachusetts at Wellspring House, a retreat for writers and artists. The retreat caters primarily to writers but offers artists producing small works a place to work as well. My cozy brightly lite room had a bed, comfortable sitting/reading chair and a writing table and chair. I worked on my meditation paintings in a glass and screen enclosed porch overlooking the patio and grounds. It was a peaceful and idyllic place to work.

Each morning I walked Halley, my dog, (yes, I was able to bring the dog with me) exploring Ashfield. Walking past victorian homes on Main Street and turning up the few streets branching off of Main Street, I passed a serene cemetery dating back to the early 1800's, an occasional Bed and Breakfast and farm homes with dogs barking at Halley and me.

After my walk, coffee and breakfast, I would meditate on the patio. Then, while Halley was contently tied up on the patio I would walk up a few step into the porch to an awaiting card table organized with my paints and brushes. I painted for several hours each day, producing 16 completed meditation paintings. Many of the paintings were worked on in several sessions. As my working method evolves I have found that my best results come after reworking paintings and allowing the paint to dry in between sessions. Often, I paint-out parts of the painting with white allowing some of the paint from a previous session to bleed though. At times, I incising the white area with graphite pencils revealing the paint beneath. My palette may change from day to day but the resulting color combinations always seem to work.

Over the next weeks, I will be posting paintings done while on retreat. They start out subdued, gaining momentum and an open, playful, joyful quality as the retreat progressed. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed painting them.