On May 18th, 2022 I hosted my first ever “Meet the Artist” event. I opened the evening with “you think this is about “meeting me the artist…it’s not. It’s about meeting YOUR inner artist.” When we were in 1st grade, the teacher asked us: Who here is an artist? Most (if not all raised) our hands. Painting might not be your “art”, maybe it is baking, or drawing, or designing or a multitude of other things. We all have an inner artist and I want to invite you all to share something about yourself as an artist.

As we went around the room, participants were invited to add a word or phrase of a word that represents something important to them. The first participant raised their hand and said “I need to be more decisive.” I shared back, “Way to be decisive!” I asked them to pick a color and “write the word as big and bold as you want.” He selected red and contributed the first word “DECISIVE” to the canvas. Each person popcorned the words and/or phrases that meant something to them and contributed to the canvas. After everyone shared and added the meaning, we completed the night by naming the piece collectively. A few ideas circulated and the name that the room agreed to was “All Together.” Working together is our natural instinct and it was so exciting to work through the first Subliminal layer. Up next, was painting over it. 

On June 29th, as I was wrapping up my art installation at Spoken Moto, (in Bend) I did my first “Paint with The Artist.” I took the “All Together” canvas to paint the first treatment. I provided canvases, brushes and paint for the seven others that signed up for the event. I shared how the process worked about creating “Subliminal Story Art” and invited them all to add words and phrases to their canvas to start and then shift over to paint over the words. I gave an overview of how to do the process and shared some examples and let everyone loose. I began the evening with prayer and we all had a chance to create abstract art using the subliminal story art process. I painted right along with them after I added a word to the canvas that represented something I was working through, something I didn’t add the evening of “Meet the Artist.” I added the word “Integrity with me.” I did a lot of pleasing in my day and not always followed my own ideas. I am working through being more honest with myself and others. After I added the word, I picked up my brushes and thoroughly enjoyed painting again after painting last in January. With my relocation and getting ready for all of my shows, I hadn’t painted much in the year.