SPARQ

I am a member of a group and I don't even know what our acronym stands for. How's that. Well, I have heard it before, so I do know for sure that it is not evil or anything. The letters stand for qualities to which we aspire. Still, I don't recall what they are.

What I do know is that this group is wonderful. We meet weekly to encourage our creative spirits. We are studying the book, The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron. In fact, our group is an "Artist's Way" group. If you were to Google artists way, you would have zillions of hits; there are artist's way groups around the world. It started out as an undergroound movement and over the years has become pretty mainstream.

One project we have had is the Shared Painting. At the beginning of a quarter, each of us starts a painting on a canvas. Each week, a different member takes our painting and adds to it. By the end of the quarter, each of us a completed painting to take home, with contributions from each member in it. We have learned about conquering fear, having confidence, and letting go through this exercise.

It's my hope that next time we do this we can be more consistent in each person signing the back stretchers on the canvas with a thought, quote or word of encouragement for the owner, including the dates.

We just completed our 2nd painting and I brought mine home last night. Here it is.

I started the painting with only the tropical foliage in the upper left and lower right corners. The next person added the black background and the flowers as she had seen them in a recent email that went around with photos of the "parrot flowers" from Thailand. In succession, each person added more and more to the picture. One person added the curly yellow embellishments. Another added the caterpillar and more leaves. Finally, the last person added the three dimensional butterfly.