What is it? It’s when you stand in the flow of giving and receiving, feeling creatively alive. And it’s win-win-win.
You do something you love
You share it with others
They benefit – sometimes way beyond your reckoning
You receive the glow
You do more of what you love
One Leaf is Many Leaves
I was sorrowful. It was the week of the Anzac centenary, destructive storms around Sydney, the execution of two of the Bali Nine and… the Nepal earthquake. Working as an art therapist in aged care, I see more Nepalese people than I ever did before in my sheltered Sydney world. They offer intimate personal care to the frail elderly here, while their families are suffering severely back home in the hills. A tough call.
I gave myself creative space – art-making time. I reached for the grey, allowing paint and tears to flow. I gave myself permission to not know, to not know how these pictures would turn out or IF they would turn into anything in particular.
Painting, weeping, following the brush of my heart …. eventually, I noticed shapes and forms emerging.
A guitar appeared in one picture. Wraith-like figures appeared in another.
The paintings became more defined, more present. Crying stopped and thinking began. What if I were to bring gold and white decorations to the images? What if I could put them for sale on Facebook and donate the full proceeds to earthquake survivors?
But what if the paintings are no good? I don’t usually show my raw work so soon after creating it. What if no-one likes this idea? What if it’s crass to mix money and Facebook friends?
I did it. I posted the two paintings plus a little leaf. They sold almost immediately. Three kind folk like them enough to live with them on their walls. And they are happy to give to those suffering in Nepal.
Listen (to the Heart-stringed Instruments)
Round and round the creative love goes
Win-win-win
Pyre
Tell us your experience, big or small, of being in the Creative Love Exchange – in the flow of creative giving and receiving.
Art and Soul Space 
What a wonderful thing to do. Good for you. I love that you created art and then sold it in order to love on the Nepalese people in their time of need.
🙂
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Thank you in turn! It’s great when the creative love goes round and round.
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Beautiful, the little lines and structures in the colors, and the composition!
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Thank you, Sabine. I found it soothing and satisfying to make the little lines and shapes. A bit like doodling and a bit like colouring OUT. Just playing and letting it curl and curve around where it needs to go.
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