it is that which is innate within us all that has my full attention
My work explores Consciousness, prompting a deep desire to express this
in a form of beauty that is an offering and invitation to the viewer.
Sahaja Peace 1000 x 1000
acrylic on canvas 2014
I love the white of a blank canvas. It offers something so still and complete, and yet the movement to make a mark comes, and the wonderment of expressing begins.
I often start with ‘scribbles’. Using whatever the hand is drawn to, the markings become a series of – a little scribble here, a little scribble there; then something that looks like a written language but is not, a broad sweep across the canvas and back into a little scribble again. The ‘scribbles’ are often my first layer; full of abandonment and joy and eventually becoming hidden under layers of paint, secretly offering their mindless presence to the viewer.
Sahaja Earth 1200 x 1200
acrylic on canvas 2014
The paint is poured onto the canvas, then moved in tandem with the body, like a Sufi dancer spinning into stillness. The paint finds its own path across the surface, delighting the Seeing whichever way it goes. Layers upon layers are created until a maze of colour sits reflecting the viewer. Then for reasons that are never understood, it is time for white, which is poured to cover and reveal a new form. And the Seeing is yet again exponentially delighted.
Sahaja Earth, detail
The titles for each piece seem to arise via internal promptings when meditating or listening/reading non-dual material. The words of Adyashanti and Rupert Spira seem to hit a particular note.
My studio practice is pretty organic, directed by an internal calling. This can mean days, weeks and even months can go by before the pull arises. However it often appears, in retrospect, that a sequence of ‘promptings’ have pointed towards the moment when paint is in hand. I often use sound, my own or that of Luke Howard for example, to settle the mind and deepen a resting in the body.
At the moment my art is an exploration of colour and movement within the simplicity of a circle, starting and finishing with my first love – white. Keeping it slow and simple is how goes these days, for it is that which is innate within us all that has my full attention, and the seeming ‘stopping’ that catches a glimpse.
Sahaja Sound 900×900
acrylic on canvas 2014
I heard these words from Rupert Spira recently – he was adapting some lines from a poem by Shelley:
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, shines with the white radiance of eternity.
They hit a note for me – yes, I thought, this is what these paintings are expressing…
– Melinda Blair Patterson
Note: Sahaja is Sanskrit for ‘innate’ or ‘born with’.
Images and text © copyright Melinda Blair Paterson
For more information:
melindablairpaterson.com
wakingupinbyron.com
the awakened eye 