Art for Self-Care: Painting Trees

 

I sat outside on a gorgeous spring evening -- the Eastern Bluebirds warbling from this grand old Cucumber Tree.  I had been feeling anxious about an upcoming doctor's visit, and reached for my paints and brushes to ground & calm myself. 

Sketching the scene, connecting with the stalwart old tree and her new friend springing up among the raspberries tuned me into the essence of the tree -- her vitality, her strength and her ability to weather every storm.  Healing.

Of course, there was a moment at the outset when I felt like the painting would never work, and I'd end up with wasted paper, but I pushed through that.  I've learned that even if I create a painting I don't want to frame, I always learn something from immersing myself in creativity, and there's always some part of the painting I feel really happy about.

At the end, I did like this painting. And I felt so much calmer.  

And the doctor's visit the next day turned out fine -- better than I had imagined.

I find it helpful to have a stack of smaller pieces of watercolor paper that I can experiment with tucked into the backpack I tote my watercolors outdoors in.  I painted this scene on a 6" x 7-3/4" paper sample from St. Cuthberts Mill.  I bought a variety of watercolor paper samples with an order of other supplies.  Paper samples don't cost much, and they're freeing to create with.  

I hope you can find peace and grounding by sketching, painting or even just sitting with a friendly tree.  

Happy Spring!