Art and Spirituality

Dear readers, I’ve wanted to write about art and spirituality for more than a year now, but I’ve been hesitant. I don’t want people to perceive that I’m trying to force my spiritual beliefs on or proselytize anyone.

You might have a different perspective than I do, and that’s perfectly fine. There’s no right or wrong perspective. Each of us follows our own path – spiritual or non-spiritual, and anywhere in between.

Here, then, is my truth.

“I find God in art museums more than I do in places of worship,” my instructor, Hans, said. I continued painting in full flow, but his statement took me aback.

I never thought of art like that before.

This was something I needed to hear, for I was only just starting to see a connection between art and faith. But I wasn’t aware of it yet – not until Hans brought up the possibility of artists being divinely inspired.

Turns out, I had been unsuccessfully searching for God and meaning my whole life. I was raised in a fairly religious household and went to my place of worship regularly, but organized religion never suited me. I attended services, but never felt spiritual or connected to God.

So I walked away from religion.

But through the years, I felt that something was missing. I wanted to feel spiritual – I believed that if I just willed it hard enough, my connection to God might come. But it didn’t. I felt I was a religion-drop-out who could not drop-in to faith. And I envied others who found community and comfort through religion.

Once I started painting seriously, however, something changed. From the time I was loading paintbrushes with smooth paint to completing a painting, I sensed a personal shift other than the phenomenon known as “flow.” While I was creating, I began to recognize a spiritual essence within me, mysterious but there nonetheless.

It was my Higher Power, found through paint and canvas, through graphite and paper.

When I created, I finally felt that long-sought-after relationship to a spiritual essence. I don’t paint religious subjects, but whatever type of art I create, I feel connected to the divine.

In my world, the process of creating anything is sacred.

As usual, I felt a spirituality when I created and revised the night scene painting. As I said in my last essay, I tend to avoid painting nighttime urban-inspired landscapes, but I figured, why not try?

Here’s last week’s version, the first draft:

This week, I made several changes and mostly winged it:

I added the moon, which I wanted tinged with the Prussian Blue of the night sky. I decided to eliminate the dark trees on either side of the highway, as they really didn’t add much, and I opted to make that space Prussian Blue, as well, lending an air of mystery to the piece. It’s not the most realistic painting, but I really like it, so I will revisit it soon to determine whether it is completed.