CREATIVE CARE PRACTICE (WATERCOLOR)

Prompt 1:  Grounding in Fertile Soil

Duration: 30-60 minutes

Art supplies needed: 1 piece of watercolor paper; charcoal stick

Instructions: Go for a walk at a nearby park, in your neighborhood, or in your favorite nature area. As you walk, find a local tree or plant that looks unique and inviting. Once you’ve found it, take a few minutes to connect with it in your own way. You could greet it, provide it with some water, offer a quick blessing, or simply put your hand on it and express a feeling of gratitude. Next, study the tree or plant, noticing as many details as you can (size, shapes, colors, textures). After you’ve spent some time with it, find a place that’s comfortable and inspires creativity. Maybe it’s a local coffee shop, your home office, or ideally, near the tree/plant that you’ve just connected with.

Once you’ve settled into your sacred creation space, set a quick intention. Your intention doesn’t have to be anything complicated. It could simply be to relax or have fun. Intention setting is a way to acknowledge the desired outcome of the activity. Now take a few deep breaths. Pull out your art supplies and begin your sketchy doodle of the tree or plant. Take your time, but don’t strive for perfection. As you sketch the tree/plant with charcoal, find an artistic way to visually include the soil and the roots in your sketch. This will require you to use a tiny bit of your imaginal intelligence! Once you’ve finished your sketch, on the back of your paper, do 2-3 minutes of reflective writing about your creative experience. What thoughts, emotions, or new wonderings came up during the activity?

Significance: This prompt is an opportunity to activate your deeper noticing and extend your awareness into the more-than-human domain. Keep in mind, as you connect with nature, you also invite an opportunity to see beyond your everyday existence and walk towards the vast web of interconnectedness that you are a part of. We hope you enjoyed your connection with nature because it can be our biggest teacher. For example, trees and plants offer the beautiful metaphorical lesson to be grounded in our lives and to root ourselves in fertile ground.  

Prayer: May this activity bring you new perspectives that help you remain grounded in life’s most fertile soil.

Tip: Give yourself permission to create. However, your sketch turns out, let it be enough. The inner critic is not needed for this creative experience.

Prompt 2:  Coming Home

Duration: 30-60 minutes

Art supplies needed: 1 piece of watercolor paper; charcoal stick

Instructions: In prompt 1, you were invited to go for a walk at a nearby park or in your neighborhood and find a local tree or plant to connect with and sketch. While doing so, you may have noticed that trees and plants often have a community of visitors nearby. From small insects to curious squirrels to a wide range of birds looking to perch. For this prompt, you are invited to dive deeper into your imagination and explore what life might be like if you were a small local dweller inside of this ecosystem. Would you be a bird? A worm? An ant? A microscopic organism? A blade of grass?

Take a few minutes to think about what kind of dweller you would be and why. Next, set an intention for this creative activity, take some deep, heartfelt breaths, and begin your charcoal sketchy doodle. On the back of your sketch paper, do 2-3 minutes of reflective writing about your creative experience.

Significance: This is an opportunity to continue cultivating your relationship with nature and to understand that every living system is a host to many other diverse forms of life. As you conduct this creative activity, notice how nature can teach you about community. Get curious about the unique lifeform ally you chose to focus on. Can you relate to the inhabitant that you’ve chosen to sketch? In what ways are you different from each other? In what ways are you similar? What lessons do you think your ally creature can teach you? Perhaps even do some Google sleuthing and learn a bit more about the ally later on.  

Prayer: May this activity ignite your desire to come home to self and community.

Tip: Give yourself permission to embrace your creatureliness!

Prompt 3: Reaching for the Heavens

Duration: 30-60 minutes

Art supplies needed: 1 piece of watercolor paper; watercolor paint set; paint brushes; ½ cup of water; paper towel

Instructions: In prompts 1 and 2, you were invited to ground and activate your sense of imagination. You were also asked to embrace your creatureliness and sense of self and community. For prompt 3, let's allow the imagination to take flight by focusing on birds. Begin by taking another walk at a nearby park, wildlife area, or in your neighborhood. See if you can spot a bird that you’d like to paint. Birds don’t stay in one spot for very long, so, unless you have a photo memory, you might want to snap a picture of it with your phone. After you’ve found and connected with your bird ally, it’s time to get creative. Set your intention, take a few deep breaths, and begin the watercolor painting of the bird you’ve chosen to focus on. No other instruction is needed. Practice radical trust and believe that each brush stroke you make is the right one. Don’t forget to do some reflective writing after the activity. You’ll just need to let the paint dry first.

Significance: There are over 11,000 species of birds throughout the world, and each of them has a unique lesson for you. Lessons about flying, falling, soaring, scanning, landing, belonging, and more. As you create your watercolor painting, notice what's coming to the forefront of your mind. This is yet another opportunity to practice relating as you paint. Can you relate to your bird ally? In what ways are you different? In what ways are you similar?   

Prayer: May this activity lift your head to the clouds and help you soar through life with trust and acceptance.

Tip: Embrace color, uncertainty, and let go of your desire to control. Watercolor is a unique medium where colors like to flow in all sorts of directions. As you paint, don’t worry about how the colors run. Consider this an opportunity to let go of control. There is no such thing as “messing up” on this activity. Your mission is to create like a child, not Michelangelo. Also, try playing with new colors. Be bold and adventurous!

Prompt 4: Embracing Lightheartedness

Duration: 30-60 minutes

Art supplies needed: 1 piece of watercolor paper; watercolor paint set; paint brushes; ½ cup of water; paper towel

Instructions: In prompt 3, you were invited to let your imagination take flight by focusing on birds. Now, let's zoom in a bit and focus on a specific feature of the bird, their feathers. For this watercolor painting, you are encouraged to let your imagination have full creative authority and to trust your inner knowing. Trust that you already know how to create a feather without needing a reference. Gather your necessary art supplies, head to your sacred creation space, set your intention, breathe, and create. You’ve got this! Once your painting dries, consider giving it away to a loved one or someone in your local community.

Significance: Feathers are versatile metaphors for spirituality, freedom, and lightheartedness. Is it possible for the heart to be lighter than a feather? The ancient Egyptians believed it was. In Egyptian mythology, in order for one to reach the afterlife, the eternal paradise of the Field of Reeds, one had to pass through the trial in the Hall of Truth (also known as The Hall of Two Truths), and this trial involved the weighing of one's heart against the feather of truth.

Prayer: May this prompt serve as a reminder to keep your heart as light as a feather.

Tip: Again, as you paint, don’t worry about how the colors run. Continue playing with new colors. You might draw inspiration from colorful feathers that belong to birds like the peacock or common kingfisher.

Prompt 5: Embracing New Dimensions of Creativity and Life

Duration: 30-60 minutes

Art supplies needed: 3 packs of air-dry clay (red, white, and blue).

Instructions: Let's get more hands-on and move from 2-dimensional creativity to 3D. For prompt 5, you will be working with your three packs of air-dry clay and creating a piece of art that is inspired by one or all of the following questions:

• What does your community need most right now?

• What does it mean to be a warrior for your community?

Feel free to do some reflective writing about these two questions before you begin working with your clay. You have an extra sheet of paper in your box for this activity.

Significance: There is power in moving from 2D to 3D creation making. With 3D art, you practice tending to your creation from many new perspectives (front, back, side, top, and bottom). Life is all about perspective, and art is a visionary approach to cultivating it.  

Prayer: May this prompt guide you to gracefully tend to all directions of your art and your life.

Tip: You are encouraged to work with your clay on a dry, clean surface. You may want to invest in additional clay shaping tools from your local art store. Additional tools typically run from $5 to $7.