COLOR AS A WAY TO THE SPIRIT
Current Block: Painting as Devotion
To devote yourself to something is to quiet yourself and enter into the other. In this course we will use drawing and painting to do this. If you want to draw something, a stone, a flower, an animal or a person, you must look at it, you must stop thinking of what your drawing should look like and really look at the object. You must devote yourself to it. When we do this, asking the question, what is there, we are often surprised to discover in the process something we did not suspect before.
For 10 sessions we will explore this by painting.
Do you want to develop your capacity in the world of color perception, interaction and dynamic? Working with painting and drawing can be health giving and transformative. Working with color and composition in relation to meaning and expression can be life engendering for your soul. Whatever style of painting you are inclined toward, understanding color and composition will increase your capacity and enjoyment of your work.
When we begin to work with color we are often swayed by our likes and dislikes, but as painters we must move beyond this and learn the language of color. Although we see color with our eyes the experience of color is in the realm of quality and that realm is at first quite subtle. We must learn to quiet our sympathies and antipathies, cast off intellectual associations and listen to what the color is. Although you may at first wrinkle your brow in doubt at this, color is a non-material reality. To understand and to work with it as a partner we must learn to speak its language. Observe in yourself how one color feels, how is it different from another? Ask yourself the questions of the quality realm: Is it heavy or light? Is it warm or cold? Is it lively or still? Does it move toward me or away, and such.
This course will include written and video instruction as well as weekly group calls with participants from all over the world. Through this creative work a supportive transcultural community will be formed. Often in a group, working together, we can feel inspiration and understanding flow between us.
The course will be taught in blocks of 4 - 10 weeks. You can join at the beginning of any block. Blocks 2025/26 include:
Color and Contemplation September/October
Color Mood November/December
Color Dynamic January/ February
Color Devotion March/May
Tuition: Free Columbia is committed to making the cultural realm financially accessible to everyone. Each block is on a sliding scale of $0-200. A sliding scale tool is available.
Acknowledgements:
Many people have been my teachers over the years. Many of these exercises were developed out of the exercises of Jennifer Thomson, Ella Manor Lapointe, and Nathaniel Williams as well as, of course, Rudolf Steiner and Goethe.