Be With The Rain

I am going through yet another deep transformation (when am I not??) that the words - nor the art - are there to describe.  Forgive me if things seem a bit scrambled or irregular around here as I attempt to continue posting what is certainly still important but jumping around that which I can't yet share.

This week we received a fair amount of rain throughout our town.  I will not complain for a minute as I continue to pray for those affected by the tornadoes down south.  It did lead to a lot of creative thinking as to how I would keep the kids and myself entertained on the dark and dreary days.

One day while my daughter played quietly with her puzzle, I felt an idea start to drip into my thoughts.  Immediately I rejected it, (*drip*) tried to think about what else I could do (*drip, drip*), got up to get a snack, (*drip, drip, drip*)...and finally moved downstairs to get the supplies I'd need to follow through on the idea.  (*whoosh*)

I grabbed green, blue, yellow and white watercolor paints and delicately swirled them around the paper.   

I then took my brush, the paper, a piece of wax paper (to keep paints from staining the driveway), my bare feet, my idea, and my growing excitement out into the gentle rain.

I danced with the paints, letting the rain become my muse.  The muffled sounds of the water as it tapped on the page, the smells of flooded grounds, the tickles of the rain as it started to saturate my hair and drip onto my face and down to my toes....it was all delicious.

I eventually - very carefully and as leveled as I possibly could - carried the paper back to the front porch.  Both of us still soggy, I sat on the front stoop watching as the colored water settled into puddles formed by the wet and warped paper.  

I was so tempted to fix it, flatten it, make it smoother, straighter...and yet - this is what nature had created.  This was already beautiful.

The hardest part was waiting until it was dry enough to carry in the house (so the paints wouldn't run all over when I picked it up).  Luckily, with a little accompaniment, even this part became blissfully enjoyable.

It took almost 24 hours to fully dry once inside, but I now have a painting that speaks to me of raindrops and soft snuggles,

courage of listening to an idea and tango-ing with the creative muse,

and the simple joys of enjoying what is...

You have everything you need in life to be who you already are - a creative being here to experience the sensual, rainy days and the warm, sunny ones.

So be it.

Namaste.