Hurray! Another painting finished! Well, almost. I’ve been working on this piece as well as another large painting for the past four months. These are part of a solo art show next August. The theme is trailers and food trucks.
Last week, I declared this painting finished. But if you look closer, you’ll see the sandwich board sign is blank. That’s because I don’t know yet what to put on it. Maybe, it should be words to announce the food trucks like “Farm to Food.” Or an arrow pointing to one truck that says “Tacos here.” Or does it say something like, “OPEN?” Or maybe … an image. I don’t know.
Painting with a “don’t know” mind is heaven. It frees me up to rely on my muses and intuition. It means I don’t have to know all the pieces and parts of a painting before and while painting. The real fun is in the “don’t know.”
Currently I’m reading a book that supports this idea: The Five Invitations by Frank Ostaseski, M.D. The fifth invitation is “Cultivate Don’t Know Mind.” He says, the “don’t know mind is one characterized by curiosity, surprise, and wonder….it’s an invitation to enter life with fresh eyes, to empty our minds and open our hearts.” This doesn’t mean we avoid knowledge or all we have experienced and learned, it just means we open up to life a bit differently.
I cultivate a “don’t know mind” in the healing and art studios. Then I take it into the rest of my life and say more often, “I don’t know” rather than guess, or pretend, or blather on about what I do know. Give it a try. Say out-loud with me: “I don’t know”. How was that?
Now, back to my painting. If you want to find out what the sign says, you’ll have to come to the Art Show: Bainbridge Performing Arts Center, opening night reception – August 3rd at 6pm. Curious?
Love this post and your invitation to enter the space of “don’t know” more often! The vibrancy of your paintings is a delightful feast for the eye.
Thank you, Marcy.
Thank you.x