FEARLESS We Paint: Guest Post By Lis Hofmann

Hello, my name is Lis and I am a Fearless Painter.

That statement in and of itself is my greatest success. You see, for most of my adult life I have puzzled over the question “What do I want to be when I grow up?” Never mind I am dangerously close to AARP membership status; I have held many titles but none seemed to encompass who it is I felt myself be be deep within my core.

As a child, I had wanted to grow up to be an artist and I even majored in Art as an undergrad, but I let the stirrings of my heart be drowned out by the voices of the supposed experts and the loudest voices of them all, fear and doubt. I questioned whether I possessed true creative talent, or just a strong desire for
that which was forever beyond my grasp. Thankfully, when I was least expecting it, but ripe and ready, the teachers who would reveal the truth about Creativity appeared in my life.

My first teacher is my daughter who helped me to rediscover this essential fact: making art is about having fun and expressing joyful play. It is about telling stories, doing what you love (and according to my daughter, using the colors that you love, so everything she paints is blue) and honoring yourself in the process. Making art can be serious stuff – the process can rip you wide open as essential truths about yourself are revealed – but it need not always be that way. In fact, it is whatever each of us decides we need it to be.

My second teacher is Ms. Connie herself. Of the many gifts she has inspired within me, the greatest has been to restore to me my original love of art – both as a practioner and as an admirer of artworks and the lives of artists. What I had lost sight of was the power of art as a means of experiencing and engaging
with my world. Regardless of how my art is received, first and foremost it is my way of expressing my love and sense of curiosity for the magnificent gift of this life.

What I have come to discover is Creativity is not something one possesses; instead we open ourselves up to the flow of Creativity within and through us. It is a state of being we can cultivate through practice, and it is only within practice that we can in anyway claim it. Technical skill and proficiency is important, but only as tools that can dissolve the barriers to opening ourselves up. Fearless Painting is the practice of surrendering oneself to the process that places us in touch with the energy of Creativity.

Here is what Fearless painting has taught me and what it means to me:

FAITH in Creativity’s abundance and flow;

EXHILARATION of surrendering to the dynamic process while letting go of the
illusion of control;

Opening myself up to the ADVENTURE of stepping into the unknown every time I
pick up my brush;

Learning to RELAX into not knowing while trusting the experience will teach me
what it is I am ready to learn;

LETTING GO of judgments, expectations, and criticism; opening myself up to pure
play and curiosity;

EMBRACING the mistakes, the messes as opportunities to discover something
greater than I could ever have planned or imagined

SAVORING the moments of discovery, of healing as each time I paint I uncover
clues to my deeper self;

SPEAKING my truth loudly, proudly, boldly and affirming this is worth paying
attention to, these are my dreams, even if I am the only one watching. Or
precisely because it is for me, that is reason enough.

Fearless Painting has brought me home to myself, and I am finding it is an
infinitely interesting, exciting, crazy and joy-filled place to be.

Care to join me? The flow is sweet …