Revealing Essence

in art making, in life

Paloma on Blue Couch

Not long ago I shared my fantasy of sketching my clients during psychotherapy. I haven’t tried for reasons of propriety, but often, as I learn their inner life, I also notice the colors of their eyes, the shading in their faces as if these things, too, reveal their essence.

I don’t mean this with any disrespect. Rather I find each aspect of the person to be an entry way into who they are. At times it seems as if their physical being and psychic being are the same-manifestations of their journey undifferentiated into parts.

In the art sangha a few mornings ago, we explored the question of purpose in our art forms. Do we bring meaning to our art, or is the meaning already there waiting for us to uncover it? I tend to think the later. We talk of finding meaning because that meaning already exists. It is revealed in our actions, the things and people that attract us, even in mountain vistas or peaceful bodies of water to which we respond.

Following our meeting, I reflected further on my fantasy about my painting and how it dovetails with my therapy work. I notice that I paint animals because they are easy. I don’t mean they are easy artistically, I mean the are easy psychically. As every pet owner knows, animals are easy to love, much easier sometimes than it is to love people. The perfect nude that doesn’t look back at you in a way to call you to yourself, or ask something of you; their poses relaxed and unselfconscious. But I know that painting people is in my future. My few efforts so far have been awkward at best. I can’t share them with you now.

My fantasy about painting people goes like this-I will paint their essence, the essence that may seem hidden but is revealed in every gesture and expression. I will somehow paint the beauty of the person, and yet still reference their struggles, conflicts and desires. When the subject finally views the completed painting, the image will make make their beauty apparent to them, inspiring them to embody their truth consciously.

So painting and psychotherapy would become one thing; the effort to help reveal to the person their inner truths, their essential beauty. Of course it would be better to say the person reveals this to me, because they do, but a sadness of life is that often they don’t see it themselves.

Namaste,

Leslie

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