Art Medicine

On Friday, I found myself crying on my studio floor.

Not because anything was wrong, but because I had just witnessed the ancient power of art.

A fire had been lit in this space, and the embers were still glowing in the paints and brushes left on the floor in a scattered ring.

I could still feel the heat…

The day before, I had sat here, on my studio floor, making art with a friend who was in the depths of a month-long “dark night of the soul.”

She’d undertaken a journey of personal transformation that had carried her far beyond the bounds of “normal” experience, with few guideposts along the way.

Her face was that of a traveler who’d been away from home for too long. Stuck at the cosmic train station… not knowing which car she’d board next in this perpetual inward journey.

What energy was moving inside her? What stories were unraveling? What new powers were emerging? I felt only love and curiosity and connection.

Between us like a fire ring, a blank sheet of watercolor paper was taped to a board. I spread out all the colors and let her choose.

I wet the brush and made the first messy stroke. Then I handed it to her. “Any mark you make is ok. Whatever happens on this page is welcome.”

Back and forth the brush went. Colors and shapes slowly filled the page. The painting that emerged was delicate and beautiful – like a visual symbol of the trust we were building in this space where anything was allowed.

Our next painting was different. The lines sharpened. Images emerged. It became a colorful window into the stories we shared as we passed the brush back and forth.

I shared stories about my own unravelings. The times I had been lost in my own terrifying mythic waters. She told me the details of what she’d been going through— stories heavy enough to crack the air. But here, in the art we shared, it was allowed to be whatever it was.

Our third and final painting seemed to flow like the unconscious itself. An unfettered explosion of messy organic shapes and deep earthy colors.

An alligator tail. A tidal wave. Rust colored blood. Or was the blood a flower? What if we turned it over? Which way was up? Did it even matter?

Four hours had passed in this creative flow-state.

When she left, she felt different to me. Nothing had been “fixed” – that was not the point. We had simply welcomed whatever wanted to be expressed.

We’d sat around our art-making like children at campfire. Feeding it our words, our stories and our pain. Watching it all burn and shift and transform.

It connected us in the absurd, sometimes terrifying, beauty of life.

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This shared experience illuminated something much deeper for me. When creativity is allowed to flow in loving acceptance, art can be medicine.

A refuge and a container for anything our souls need to feel. To Express!

I’ve been caught up in the economics of survival – feeding my family, renting my sacred studio space, buying paint and canvas – sacrificial offerings I feed to the fire of my burning soul…

But this opportunity to “welcome what is” and transform it into beauty is why I love making art so deeply.

Every image I’ve made in these last 4 messy-as-f#ck years has been a fire I’ve lit, a portal through which my emotions – fears and grief… and JOY – LOVE and HOPE have burned, wild with optimism.

I hope to inspire you to welcome your own wild self. To welcome whatever you are feeling, and if there’s resistance to what you’re feeling – to welcome that to.

Hold nothing back.
Feed it to your creative fire.

Because NOW is the time to feed the fires of our creative spirits with our pain, our grief and our fear – so it can transform into joy, beauty and faith in this wild universe.

I believe we are WELL, my friend. Deeply, truly. If we feel darkness gathering it is only the smoke of our holy fires smothered under the debris of a culture out of balance.

Let’s channel the chaotic winds of the coming storms to breathe life into our fires!

Let’s burn through restraint and become who we truly are.

This is the invitation. The call to step up to our creative fires.

To become who we truly are—Powerful. Creative. Wild. 🔥

So tell me… What are you holding on to that needs to BURN?

Hit reply and tell me. Seriously. I’ll read every word.

And in future emails, social posts and live streams I’ll share not just my own creations, but more about this method of unrestrained art making.

Because I know that “professional artists” aren’t the only ones drawn to the light of this sacred fire of creativity.

We’re all coming together to bring a creative new world into being.

Love to you.

Ryan