Art Therapy for The Soul with Kelly Jimenez

I am a sail heating up from a large column of fire beside me. Clouds of electricity are feeding emotions to the nothings in the sweet morning freedom is the ability to help but also to feel sorrow because everything is part of a much larger entities. The politics of the after – world bore me as they feel no good. I follow a path at times too bright but when the colors learn to sit harmoniously, things that within become possible of incomparable beauty. There is joy, is so much blood and passion slashed at the feet of a punctuated forest. Many dimensions give way to an Opening of clouds but that ludicrous fantasy exists in my soul nonetheless. Subtle hues give way to undiscriminating masses of colors ceaselessly trying to emerge from the surface of this alien element. Soft touches of black garnish a land which would otherwise be at war with its own mother who never asked for more than just to be left alone. Dans la noirceur je m’éveille enfin prêt à expier les taches de mauve fades. Des origines on en fait plein mais de pouvoir les expliquer avec éloquence est la base même de l’élégance mais aussi parfois de la constipation. Our mind is full of vestigial reflexes, the challenge is to keep it vaginal.

This poem and painting were both born of a session with my friend Kelly Jimenez who teaches a class called Meditation and Art Creation right after I do my own Cartoon and Comics class. Celeste, a student of my own from an entirely different class showed up for the first time on the last class meaning she had completely forgot she had registered and was there because Kelly gave her a phone call to remind her. I decided to stick around for this spiritual jam, she began explaining what it means to put judgement aside and let art speak for itself. For Kelly the process IS the result and she places herself as a guide in order to allow us to teach ourselves to be spontaneous. An art therapy degree never hurt anyone to convey this unique approach, one that she has under her belt.

This was my second time sticking around to participate in this class. It all begins with a guided meditation but Kelly is consistently minimalistic and uses a minimal amount of words to help us quite our mind. She will for example bring us back to the breath which did wonders for me because I was stressed out to begin with. I feel like the three of us really got into that deep enlarging space where there is room for the aura to breath. There is so much to let go of that there was a steady stream of thoughts but fortunately no judgement.

It was then time to get painting, I asked if we couldn’t open the blinds but she said it was better to paint in dim light to forgo some control over our creations. To further this loss of control, we were to paint with our non dominant hand which in my case is my left hand. I asked if I could finger paint which she gladly allowed. There were also a few brush strokes at the end. I peeked at Celeste’s midway and when I looked at it again at the end of the painting part. It had evolved quite a bit. I was in awe at the sheer rhythm of her composition. I asked Kelly if she often meditates before making art on her own, she said sometimes yes.

I had not painted in acrylics in a long time and I much enjoyed the tactile experience as my fingers slid and dabbed onto the paper like raindrops on the ground sometimes using the side of my hand. When we were done she held it up to us in front of the window and then the backlighting made it all come to life. She turned it around on all four angles and asked us about the shapes we see. I saw a sail which served as the starting point for the creative writing part.

Here is the work at different angles and with different filters to show you how different it was to me from one angle to the next.

When we began the creative writing portion of the class, Kelly thought I was staring at my painting so to make sure I wasn’t overthinking, she urged me to start with a list of words as spontaneous as could be.
Mine were:

Hope
Despair
Clouds
Fantasy
Punctuation
Forever
Tomorrow
We
Are
No
Freedom
Within
Entity
Too Bright
Slashed

Now this really initiated my process having the wind in my sail to write the poem above. It is quite an interesting introspection of self and I am grateful for Kelly for her prompts which helped my rational brain quiet down. What a wonderful coincidence to be able to do all this with Celeste who has shown me so much support on Facebook, validating my content creation with her unwavering support. Checking out links to this very blog.

This is Celeste’s piece. I love how some of the purple and yellow circles are more faded than others. It is bold yet subdued.

This is Kelly’s work, I am very attracted to the colour palette and the tubular symbol painted in black. The red adds the little bit anarchy that it needs to be edgy.

My takeaway from this jam is to cherish the art I make, Just making it is not enough, it also needs to be celebrated, cherished and pondered over. I am an artist, not an art factory and without a healthy dose of mindfulness, art becomes no more than a commodity.

If you are ever in Vancouver and would like to participate in one of Kellie’s classes, check out her website with the following link:
http://www.kellyjimenez.art/

Free to be...free to create.
No conventional rules to follow,
No results as a goal.
Dive into the creative process with abandon,
To allow what needs to emerge to do so.
Art as alchemy for the heart and soul. ​

                                                                                                                                                    ~ Kelly Jimenez