For the Children – the painting & purpose

For 5 weeks this Fall, I had the pleasure of sharing the joys & not-so-secret secrets of intuitive painting with 535 children at Beachy Cove Elementary School in Portugal Cove, Newfoundland & Labrador. Today is my last day.

I saw each of the 24 classes 3 times each for this multi-layered creative process that I’ll show you in an upcoming blog post.

Today, let me introduce you to the painting I created during a 22-hour painting marathon on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend to open the energetic portal for this ArtsSmarts school program.

Those hours weren’t only spent painting, but also in prayer and mental preparation to get out of my happy-hermit comfort zone, so that I could be an instrument of God’s peace & creativity with crowds of kids.

I invited a movement from me-to-we co-creation!

Hanging in my classroom, “For the Children” became an energetic and visual reminder of my purpose to open the door to creative inspiration and to stay in my peace doing it.

I’d received the vision of a circle of children sitting under a rainbow the week before the start of the program.

Then, on Friday, as I drove down the hill towards my house with a trunk full of art supplies, a giant rainbow appeared over my neighbourhood with the pine clad Southside Hills behind it. Spectacular!

The rainbow is a wonderful symbol of hope, promise, new beginnings, good luck, communication, inclusivity, peace, and so much more. 

I had no idea what kind of impact this program was going to have. I was OK with that. I knew I was guided there for a reason and trusted that teaching this creative process to children of Kindergarten-Grade 4 would spark something in them.  In me too!

So layer upon layer, I applied paint & prayers to help bring my best Self in the presence of these hundreds of individualized expressions of the Divine.

I was excited, but I was also scared. That mix is a sure sign of upcoming growth.

By the time I had created the last element of the painting, I was ready to enter this very different 5-week chapter of my life.

Can you see the energy doorway in the middle of the painting?

Stay tuned to see the results of what turned out to be an awesome project!