Materials as Teachers
After a brief hiatus due to school closings and illness, I'm excited to dive into today's topic: the profound lessons our art materials can teach us. From paints and markers to clay and various surfaces, each medium carries its own wisdom and shapes our creative experience in unique ways.
The Gentle Teacher: Watercolor
Watercolor, my medium of choice, can feel frustrating and unpredictable. Yet through working with it, I've learned valuable lessons in patience, surrender, and acceptance. There's a particular joy in watching an unexpected bloom transform into a beautiful organic shape, teaching us to embrace the unexpected.
For mindful practice, I often create simple color swatches or abstract pieces, allowing my intuition to co-create with the watercolor. This process becomes a form of meditation, where we learn to release control and find delight in spontaneity.
The Mirror: Pencils and Markers
In contrast to watercolor, pencils and markers offer precise control. However, they demand a different kind of surrender – with an emphasis on internal release. While the medium follows your exact instructions, it invites deep attention to your thought processes, self-judgment, and emotional responses to each mark made.
This is perhaps why many gravitate toward these tools; they provide a sense of control. Yet therein lies their greatest lesson: they become mirrors reflecting our internal state, showing us through line weight, mark and movement our embodied emotions, and challenging us to maintain an intuitive flow despite having control.
The Earthen Guide: Clay
Clay offers a unique fusion of physicality and technicality. Unlike other mediums, there's no separation between artist and material – your hands are directly in it, connecting you to an ancient human experience of working with earth. This inherent messiness challenges our conditioning around cleanliness and control.
Yet clay also demands attention to technical details. It must be properly wedged and cared for to prevent explosion during firing. This balance between primal connection and technical precision teaches us about co-creation and nurturing relationships.How do we nurture and prepare ourselves so that we can be safely molded and shaped.
The Journey of Surfaces
Our choice of surface adds another dimension to our creative practice. Consider creating on found objects like seed pods or driftwood (sustainably, ethically, and legally sourced please!) – each carries its own journey from seed to your hands. When we create on such surfaces, we're interweaving our story with theirs.
Even paper can be meaningful – whether store-bought or handmade from repurposed materials. Each surface offers an opportunity to weave new stories and transform experiences through creative expression.
The Science Behind Material Choice
Research supports what artists have intuitively known: different materials affect our brains differently. Studies using EEG measurements show that working with clay produces more delta wave activity (associated with relaxation) compared to pencil work. Additionally, all art-making activities increase activity in the parietal lobe, enhancing our sensory integration, symbol making and understanding of the world.
Creating Your Own Ritual Object
I invite you to create a ritual object using materials you have available. Before beginning:
1. Ground yourself and hold your chosen material
2. Envision its journey to you
3. Connect with your intention for the piece
4. Create mindfully, observing your experience with the material
5. Place the finished piece somewhere meaningful – an altar, shelf, or even your pocket, as a reminder of your intention, wisdom, and strength
In Closing
Remember that choosing materials is an act of self-love and awareness. Each medium offers unique support. Feel into how different materials affect you, as we are all unique and will resonate differently. In my experience, I use materials in the following ways:
- Watercolor for loosening up and embracing flow
- Clay for deep relaxation and sensory connection
- Pencils and markers for structured expression within safe boundaries
We are nature, constantly transforming like the materials we use. The question is: what will we create with what's before us?
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