Tag Archives: Mindfulness

heART Exchange Art Swap

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My swap partner received her art, so now I can really talk about it. I said a little the other day, but here’s the whole story. To recap, I started off thinking I would do a painting, but didn’t end up having enough time. This led to trying to figure out something to do with fabric left over from making a square for Kelly’s quilt.

What could I make?  To be honest, I’m not that crafty or artistic. I am a writer. I like to color and make collages, silly drawings, and hand-made cards, and I have a good eye, a sense of what works and is pleasing, but I’m not really that good at producing. However, I can sew. I don’t have a sewing machine right now, so it would have to be hand-stitched. I remembered seeing craft projects based on Tibetan Prayer Flags, so looked around on the internet to see what I could find. I found a really fun website, Future Craft Collective, that had a project they called “hope wish prayer flags.” Yes, this was it.

Traditionally, prayer flags are intended to generate peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom, and come in sets of five. The flags do not carry prayers to gods (as is commonly believed), but rather the prayers or mantras printed on the flags are blown by the wind and in this way they spread good will and compassion into all of space, providing benefit to all beings.

I didn’t have pinking sheers, so couldn’t make the fun edge, would have to stitch it.  The fabric is so beautiful, I wanted my swap partner to be able to see it on both sides, so I decided for each flag that I would stitch two pieces of fabric together. I sewed up three of the edges, flipped them right-side out, and ironed them. It was then that I noticed the way I had sewn the first two pieces of fabric together turned each flag into a pocket. This made me imagine all the things you could put inside: prayers, promises, wishes, worries, dreams, treasures, secrets.

And when I thought about what to write on the front of each flag-pocket, I decided to use the Metta Prayer as my inspiration, “metta” meaning lovingkindness. This is a Buddhist prayer that can be said for yourself, others, or even the planet. This has been a powerful practice for me in my own life. There are many versions, but in general, it goes something like this:

May I be peaceful.
May I be happy.
May I be safe.
May I awaken to the light of my true nature.
May I be free.

In the last two steps of the Metta Prayer, one would first imagine a specific person or a group, wishing these things for them, starting with “May you be peaceful.” And then in the final step of the practice, one wishes the same list of things for all beings.

May all beings be peaceful.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be safe.
May all beings awaken to the light of their true nature.
May all beings be free.

The final step of my heART project was to sew ribbon on each flag-pocket. In this way, you can tie a single ribbon and hang a single flag-pocket on the wall or on the knob of a drawer or dresser.

Or, you can tie the five of them together and hang them like more traditional prayer flags.

I imagined that my art swap partner could write or whisper her worries, wishes, prayers, promises, secrets, and dreams into these flag-pockets, put them under her pillow when she sleeps, or slip it into the pages of a sacred book, or hang one or all of them where she can see them and remember, or put precious treasures inside, like a shell from the beach or a rock found on a walk or the key to her heart, and some sort of magic will happen.

Her worries will disappear and she will be safe.

Her wishes will come true and she will be happy.

Her prayers will be answered and she will be well.

Her promises will be kept and she will be peaceful.

Her secrets will be kept and she will be free.

Her dreams will come true and she will awaken to the light of her true nature.

As I mentioned the other day, it was really nice to be working on a sweet, handmade art project for someone else in the days leading up to my birthday, and oddly, it felt like I was doing it for me too: pouring all this care and lovingkindness into a creation that I blessed and let go, sent into the universe to love someone else. I think this is at the heart (the heART) of why I am an artist: to learn to love and be myself, and then send that love into the world, hoping it lands with whoever needs it most.

Stop Waiting. Just Start.

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I was stuck for a long time. Essentially, I had writer’s block for at least 20 years.  I was waiting for someone else to judge that I was good enough and give me permission to start. I waited for a fully formed great idea to come before I could start. And when I did have ideas, if I discovered that someone else had already done something similar, I’d give up on it. I had to earn it, be good enough, prove myself, get permission, and have a really great and totally original idea first, before I could start, so I just kept waiting.

Image from Free FotoI have since realized, not in a single flash of understanding but through a lot of hard work and excavation, that the only thing getting in the way of me having the life I wanted, doing the work I wanted, being an artist, was me. I could give myself permission, get out of my own way and simply start.

I can only know what the project will be by starting it and being fully present and mindful as I work. This became clear as I was working on my heART Exchange art swap project, because that’s the way it happened. At first, I had plans to paint something. I recently took a painting class with a group of friends, and I liked it so much, I bought some canvas, brushes and paints. I’m not very good, but given enough time and patience, I’m not horrible.

But somehow I got confused about how the process of the art swap would work, and got it in my head that I’d have plenty of time to start after I got my partner’s name and address, so I waited (this always gets me in trouble). When I got the name, I realized I only had five days to make something before I had to mail it, and I was working four of those days. I would never have enough time to paint something, and it would be a stressful experience, not a creative work filled with love and joy. I had to think of another idea.

I looked around my studio (I just made the decision to call it that, to admit that this space I work in is no longer an office, it’s an art studio) to see what I might make. I remembered the fabric I had left over from when we made Kelly a quilt, (here’s the blog about the process). Here’s the square I made:

The leftover fabric is special, can’t be used for just anything, so I thought about what I might make with it for my art swap.  I got an idea, and that idea evolved into something completely different as I worked on it, (I’ll post more about the project once my swap partner receives it).  I made myself stay with each step of the process: stitch all the gold thread designs before stitching the silver, sew all the buttons on before writing the words, etc.  There were five similar pieces in the project and instead of finishing one completely, to check and make sure it would “work,” instead of rushing and pushing and judging, I stayed with each step, fully embodying that part of the process, understanding and finishing it before moving on, instead of jumping around in fits and starts, and resting when I got tired.

In this way, the magic of the process manifested a finish project I could have never predicted if I had tried to decide it before I began.  Here’s a sneak peek:

So I have learned that you have to simply start, and be mindful and present as you work.  I have also realized that I am a messy artist. I used to assume that meant I didn’t know what I was doing, because “shouldn’t I be in control of the process, know what is happening, direct it?” But no, I just do the thing right now that feels like it needs doing, should be done, is right without needing a clear reason or plan.  I do that for a long time, one step at a time, step after step, and at some point the whole becomes clear, comes into focus, and it makes sense what I’ve been doing and how it will work and what it might mean.  This awareness often happens just before the project is finished.  Not until it’s fully formed and done do I understand what I’ve been working on.

I explained this to my friend yesterday and she said “that takes a lot of faith.”  Yeah.  To trust it will work out, make sense eventually, and that you just need to keep moving, working through that unknown territory without a map or any instructions, trusting your gut and your intuition and the process.  In that way, it’s so much more about the act of creating than the creation, the product.  To make art is to be in it, embody the process, life evolving as part of the practice.

I am not one of the lucky ones who can make a plan, outline the steps ahead of time.  I have to show up every day and do the work, be the work, and trust that it will all lead somewhere, and even if it doesn’t, being present for the doing, the mindful creating, is what ultimately matters.  Because, in the end, I am not only making art, I am making a life.

  • What are you making?