The Joy of Sharing My Art Live at Festivals

Beloved Festival 2018

Live painting has been a very significant element of change and growth in my life in the last five years. When live painting found me in the summer of 2015 I was a few years into a period of profound spiritual transformation. I had been working with Ayahuasca for about two years and my whole sense of self had shifted. I was at the trailhead to an entirely new life, one of my own choosing, not one that was trust upon me, and because it was a journey of choice, I didn’t really know where to go next because I was still trying to fully understand what I lacked, or what I was actually looking for.  

Painting “I Am The Universe” at Cascadia Music and Arts Festival 2016

I’ve always been an artist I guess (long story) and the way I express myself is a pretty genuine experience and yet it’s always been a little bit of a mystery to me why I’m so drawn to it. That said, for most of my life I’ve lacked confidence in a very real way and so I wasn’t always able to share my art with people so openly. I was that artist who only worked at home in private and rarely shared my work. The thought of starting a blank canvas in front of thousands of people would have sent me into a panic. It never would have happened.

Painting “Revenant” at Imagine Music and Arts Festival 2018

But after those experiences with ayahuasca things started to shift. I was beginning to understand why I was an artist and I finally understood what I wanted to communicate with my work, and that was giving me a newfound confidence. But something was missing. Where were my people? I was working in a vacuum, I had no community. 

Then July of 2015 rolled around. I was invited to come live paint at Cascadia Music Festival in Granite Falls, Washington. I was pretty terrified at exposing myself to countless people as I went through the creative process from the very beginning but I knew I couldn’t say no, I had to take the challenge and face my fears.

That weekend was transformational for so many reasons. I love the energy that surrounds painting with other people. I love unmasking the creative process. There is often a cloud of mystery around an artist’s creative process; they want to keep it a secret I suppose because it adds to the mystique or something. But I fell in love with the idea of taking the veil off and letting everyone see that creating art is a physical/spiritual process that anyone has access to. It is magic, but it’s not a spell that only certain people can wield. If there is the real want to do it in your heart, you too can paint. I really want to bring that message with me everywhere I go now. 

Beloved 2018

As someone who was struggling with confidence myself, I learned first hand that if I just trusted the journey and jumped in that things would usually work out, for the most part. I was going through all the normal creative stages, the “oh this is never going to work stage” for example. I think every time I start a painting at a festival there is a bit of “what if I tank, what if I make a sucky painting and everyone sees it, wouldn’t that be embarrassing?!” But that’s part of the thrill and it’s helped me grow tremendously to just work through all that and be there in the moment, doing my best, enjoying the ride and sharing with others.

Painting “New Moon” at Autumn Skye’s art jam in Canada, 2017