Intuitive Painting and the Story of the Magi

 

My friend, Chelsea Rose and I decided to sign up for an online “painting mini retreat,” sponsored by Tapestry, a unique church that is also online. In the past, Chelsea Rose and I have spent time together decorating gourds and sketching, while encouraging each other in our walk with Christ.  After registering for the retreat, we waited with anticipation for the designated day to arrive.

On that Sunday afternoon, Chelsea Rose showed up at our house with canvases and supplies. I had set up the laptop on our dining room table, pushing it as far away from where we would be sitting as possible. Knowing the way I painted, anything within close proximity was liable to get covered with paint.

As the zoom session began, we were introduced to Cora Glass, who is affiliated with a church in our area. Cora began painting as a hobby, using a unique style called “Intuitive painting.” Not only does she help people find beauty and peace through art, she also coaches people so that they can pursue their dreams with courage.

Intuitive painting was a whole new concept for me. Cora invited us to put aside any preconceived ideas and to see what images might emerge from the canvas, whatever seemed to connect with us.

 I sat looking at the white canvas in front of me, wondering what it would look like at the end of our mini-retreat. The first step was to cover the canvas with our favorite color. Easy…sky blue for me.

 While that layer was drying, Cora read the story of the Magi who followed an unusual star westward in search of the King of the Jews. Her instructions were to look for certain words that seemed to jump out from the story.

The word “secretly” stood out to me during the reading. When the Magi reached Jerusalem, Herod met with them in secret, wanting to know more details. It seemed to me that the meeting with Herod must have been frightening due to his reputation as a ruthless king and murderer.

In contrast to the secret meeting was the word “overjoyed.” After leaving Herod, the Magi were overjoyed when the star reappeared and directed them to the place where Mary and Joseph were staying with the baby in Bethlehem.

Our next step in the process was to choose some different objects that would add texture to the painting, things that might be symbolic of the words that seemed significant. Canning rings dipped in white paint became happy faces for the word “overjoyed.”

Dark purple seemed a good mood setter for “secrecy.” A plastic object used to mix lemonade in a lemonade pitcher was used to stamp purple shapes on the canvas.

 We paused to let the paint dry while Cora read the passage out loud a second time.

During that reading, we were to think of the colors associated with the story. Maybe red, gold and green for the jewels the Magi brought as gifts for the baby Jesus? Black for night? I slapped on more colors with a palette knife.

            At the same time, Chelsea Rose was creating a bird shape using long strokes of the brush and adding texture by dabbing different colors onto the canvas. It was fun being creative!

After looking at my painting from all angles, some figures seemed to emerge. One figure looked menacing, perhaps a bit like Herod, and two others appeared to be kneeling, almost cowering, before him. Maybe Herod’s secret meeting with the Magi? More time was needed!

             When our session was over, we each held up our painting and shared what we learned from the experience. The amazing results included a Christmas wreath, the procession of Magi following the star, a house decorated for the holidays, trees in the winter, Chelsea’s bird, an intricate Christmas scene made by our skilled teacher and my unfinished attempt at Intuitive painting.

It struck me that just as a theme seemed to emerge through the layers of paint, so the prophets caught glimpses of God’s plan of salvation centuries before Christ’s birth. Like the Magi, may we experience the joy of discovering Jesus and the awe of worshipping Him.

“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.” Matthew 2:6 NIV (A prophecy by Micah about 700 years before Jesus’ birth)