Paige... why do you paint upside down?
How on EARTH do you paint upside down?
Well... funny you ask
I do it on purpose
To be honest if I try to paint right side up
My brain creates what I "think" an image should look like
Things get wonky
And crooked
And just don't quite translate the same
When I was diagnosed with Postpartum Anxiety and Depression
I realized
To heal from this
Was going to be something I needed to learn to cope with
In my own way
And I was going to have to learn to live and embrace a new way of thinking from now on
My counselor asked me
"In 10 years what will you look back on your life and say, "I'm glad I spent my time doing this?""
I thought about it over a week and came up with the obvious answers...
Family
Home
Kids
Health
and...
Painting
To me as I reflect on my life and time
I really don't want there to be a blank spot
A lapse in my life where I didn't paint
The idea of missing paintings during a part of my life made me sad
It is how I express who I am...
What is happening to me...
How I see the situation...
And also
How I tell the stories of my life
I wasn't ok with the thought of there being a portion of my life where I didn't have that aspect.
My counselor went on to explain that my brain was stuck in the emotional part
I was constantly living in
FIGHT or FLIGHT
and I was strung out, exhausted, on edge, and not myself
In order for me to recover I needed to commit to changing what part of my brain was active
SO...
I began painting upside down
To purposely get myself to use a different part of my mind
Simply painting the shapes I saw in front of me
I also took my glasses off to paint to force myself to really begin using muscles that I wasn't using at the time
I WAS SHOCKED
My new paintings had such a beautiful
Soft, flowy, realistic look to them that had a unique take on where the light hit them
I was in love
Not only with the new art I was creating
But how I started to feel
Soon... it was my way of coping
My outlet
How I recharged and refreshed myself
Painting upside down
And loving every second
Until next time!
-Paige