The final session.
4 people showed up.
We had to do 2 paintings.
The first:
Love
Paint what your holding on to. The first step was to write down what I felt I am holding on to. Not as easy as I thought it would be. Do you just think of the positive things, the negative things. Are you actually holding on to the negative things, or trying to get rid of them? I made a list, deciding that your are hopefully getting rid of the negatives, holding on to the positives.
Love, Relationships, Faith.
Now what? The final answer. The painting above. The relationship as evidenced by nature living together. The nourishing sun, the mighty tree strong of trunk, providing shade for the grass and the flowers that thrive in its shadow. A central strength protecting the more frail. Someone asked about the flowers on the right being different from the ones on the left. I got tired of painting individual blotches and took a wild fancy tot he easy way out. Nothing symbolic there. What about the open space on either side of the trunk. Unless you are talking about a willow tree, there is always white space on either side of a tree trunk. Nothing symbolic there either. The moderator loved this and saw all sorts of deep meanings in it. That felt kind of good.
The second:
Amulet of Light
We were asked to paint one last time and give the painting as a gift to the person on our right. This was the gift given me.
This represents one of those things that heroes in movies hurl at the enemy in the hopes of witnessing total annihilation. It is very pretty and quite cool.
This one was easy for me. I painted a big blue canvas with a green ribbon around it, and a touch of red on the ribbon. This went to my friend of the anxiety attacks. As I said, too easy.
We had a pot luck of sorts. Difficult to have a pot luck between the hours of 10 and 12. One person brought a salad. The rest of us brought sweets, shortbread cookies, brownies, lemon tarts, and my Iranian nuts and Baghlava.
Nothing deep was discussed. It was a light morning.
One person drew a bunch of boxes in various colours representing the pack rat that she is collecting all sorts of stuff. She is gradually learning to let go of things. Cleaning the basement. Throwing things out. What an effort that is.
Another painted a bunch of flowers each representing an emotion. Red rose for love, purple iris for hope, bluebells, and daisies. I did not take notes, so I forget what those represented. The daisy was very bright. The bluebells sweet, fragile, and pretty. Finally, a large bush of thorns. An obvious one. The thorns were paler than the other flowers. A fading past, with the other flowers representing a more optimistic future.
The last person painted something very abstract which I cannot begin to describe. She went on at length about the colours fading into one another, but I was not clear what any of it represented, and no one else appeared to be very clear either. A big was made about the right side versus the left side of the painting. She said she is holding on to herself. Letting go of her anger.
That is about all there is to say.
The painted gift I received was from Farokh, since I was to his right. He said, "No sweat. This is an easy one to paint. Period." I agree. A large beautiful darkish blue present (blue, to calm me down,) green ribbons (a peaceful and Christmasy colour,) and then a tad bit of red in the ribbon to make it festive, I imagine. The painting's at home now, pinned on my large bulletin board in the kitchen, so I may view it and the meaning everyday. It's also nice to remember the kind soul who painted it for me. Many thanks Farokh.
The pot luck was lovely…..not overdone, not underdone. We all came prepared and at peace! I enjoyed hearing the drum jamming, in the room next door to us. It made me want to 'boogie' in my seat. We never did get to view Barb's home movie that she made in honor of her Dad……I guess we ran out of time. I think we did well enough without adding any more drama to this last class. It was all light conversation and some chuckles. I made a joke about my brownies being 'Hash Brownies'…Wouldn't that have been a blast? hehehehe.
The painted gift I received was from Farokh, since I was to his right. He said, "No sweat. This is an easy one to paint. Period." I agree. A large beautiful darkish blue present (blue, to calm me down,) green ribbons (a peaceful and Christmasy colour,) and then a tad bit of red in the ribbon to make it festive, I imagine. The painting's at home now, pinned on my large bulletin board in the kitchen, so I may view it and the meaning everyday. It's also nice to remember the kind soul who painted it for me. Many thanks Farokh.
The pot luck was lovely…..not overdone, not underdone. We all came prepared and at peace! I enjoyed hearing the drum jamming, in the room next door to us. It made me want to 'boogie' in my seat. We never did get to view Barb's home movie that she made in honor of her Dad……I guess we ran out of time. I think we did well enough without adding any more drama to this last class. It was all light conversation and some chuckles. I made a joke about my brownies being 'Hash Brownies'…Wouldn't that have been a blast? hehehehe.