Workshop with LEAF!

Two weeks ago, we had a wonderful art workshop. Our friend Fumiko guides people to create beautiful art that reaches into their subconscious, even when they have no art experience at all.

I’m a pretty bad artist, but by the end of this workshop I was creating wonderful new drawings. And I could reach more deeply into myself than before. Very impressive!

Let me tell the story…
 
 
We arrived at Fumiko’s beautiful apartment, and had some tea and talked for awhile. Then she brought out some colorful artist’s crayons, and she told us we could choose one color, whatever we felt, but only one.

Then we closed our eyes and used our left hands to draw on a big sheet of clean white paper (I’m right handed), while music played in the background.

I found myself moving to the music, letting my subconscious wake up and draw for me. And this is what happened:

Hmm, not so great.

Then we chose another color, and did it again. I found myself going into a trance, new feelings coming up as I drew. I started using the chalk, and then running across it with my fingers, touching my own art. And it got more interesting:

Not bad. Done with eyes closed!

Then we picked one of our drawings and expanded on it, using our right hands now, eyes open and more colors. I chose one that looked like two yellow suns. I felt energy in the drawing, the suns together but bursting apart. I added layer after layer of color, until it looked like this:

Part 2: LEAF

Then we started the second part of the workshop, using the story LEAF (story is here).

Each of us would choose a passage from the story and read it out loud. That person would repeat it again and again, while the other two closed their eyes, touched their feelings, and started drawing and painting.

Then the next person would read, and the next. We did it twice, so we each did four drawings. Here are mine, and the passages that inspired them:

#1

When the spring rains came he grew bigger and stronger
and when the sun shone down he opened his bright green 
face to it
and he felt the life of the tree course through him…

春の雨が降り始め、彼は大きく元気に成長し、
太陽が大地を照らし、彼は輝く緑の顔を開き、太陽へと向けた。
そして彼は木としての人生が彼の中で沸き起こってくるのを感じた。

But he was still alone. Not a single leaf grew next to him.

しかし、彼はまだ一人ぼっちだった。彼の隣には一枚の葉っぱさえ育っていなかった。

 

 
 
#2

And he saw that she, too, floated on this beautiful breeze,
and the breeze moved them
together

そして彼は彼女もこの美しいそよ風に浮かんでいるのを見た。
そしてそよ風が彼らを動かし
一緒にした。

And they touched.

そして、彼らは触れた。

 

 
 
#3

Then he closed his eyes. The cold wind cut his skin.
But he could feel it.
And the clouds filled the air with the smell of rain.
And the cold ground below reminded him of all the leaves that had shared the big tree with him.

そして彼は目を閉じた。冷たい風が彼の肌を突き抜けた。
彼はそれを感じることができた。
そして雨の匂いと共に雲が空を覆った。
そして冷たい下の地面は彼と共に大きな木を分かち合った
たくさんの葉っぱたちを思い出させた。

And he could feel the tree, the life of the tree beneath him,
the life streaming into him
and connecting him to the ground, and to the sky
And to her.

彼は木を感じることができた。彼の下にある木の生命を
彼へと流れ込んでいるそのいのちを。
そしてそのことが彼を大地へ、そして空へと結びつけた。
そして彼女へも。

 

 
 
#4

And they smiled and closed their eyes.
And wished their deepest wish
And prayed to the earth and sky
And begged the tree, and begged the wind
To move the branches
So they could be together

そして彼らは微笑みあい、目を閉じた。
彼らの深い部分から湧き上がる望みを願い
天と地に祈り
木に、そして風に願った
枝を動かし
彼らが一緒にいることができるようにと

 

 
It’s a powerful exercise, and the art I made was better than any I had done before. I found that when I tried to “think” what the piece should be, the art became stiff and weak.

But when I felt what the piece should be, I made something more real and powerful.

Thank you Fumiko, for a wonderful workshop.

(Fumiko does workshops in Tokyo.)