A Painting Artist

Photograph taken by Annie Liebowitz for Vanity Fair

When I think about cinematic love stories, and those that have transferred offscreen, I think Bacall and Bogie, Beatty and Benning, and MacGraw and McQueen.

A lot has been written about the last two, and this month’s Vanity Fair publishes an intimate interview with Ali MacGraw who talks about her relationship with Steve McQueen.

The romance was highly charged, all or nothing, “from the start it was either great days or horrendous days and nothing in between” and although she doesn’t explicitly say it was violent, she all but does. But the interesting thing she does say is, “I was 1000% not a victim.”

Her big sin, she says, “was to be inauthentic at the beginning. I didn’t state my case: ‘You know, even though I told you I’d rather be on a motorcycle opening a can of beer, the truth is I’d rather go to Paris.’ If you don’t say who you are up front, then you don’t get to wake up two years later and say, ‘Oh, man, am I sick of doing this!’”

Interestingly, this disconnect that she obviously felt and went through enabled her conversion from model to movie star when she appeared in Love Story. More interesting though is the journey she has been on privately to live an authentic life.

She had me at India.

Not Italy, although Italy was OK, but I was too distracted by her pasta eating …

But in India her journey deepens and so does her writing. Maybe she planned it this way, or maybe it was happy coincidence. Nothing, I have learned recently, about this book’s arrival, was coincidental.

Writing like this:

“If we truly knew all the answers in advance as to the meaning of life and the nature of God and the destiny of our souls, our belief would not be a leap of faith and it would not be a courageous act of humanity; it would just be … a prudent insurance policy.

I’m not interested in the insurance industry. I’m tired of being a skeptic, I’m irritated by spiritual prudence and I feel bored and parched by empirical debate. I don’t want to hear it anymore. I couldn’t care less about evidence and proof and assurances. I just want God. I want God inside me. I want God to play in my bloodstream the way sunlight amuses itself on water.”

Yeah, she had me at India.

I am celebrating tonight and honouring my mentor and friend Bob Yeager. Bob is a person who truly deserves (but doesn’t seek) the title ‘internet guru’. He has taught me a crucial lesson about internet marketing through his WEST programme: it works most successfully when it is combined with authenticity.

As artists we express our authenticity through story, in paint, in words, in music, whatever our medium is. Then when we combine that voice with all the technical knowledge, bingo, we start to manifest real wealth.

Having learned the hard lesson of ‘finding my voice’, I recognise this teaching as absolutely ‘on the money’. This applies to whatever business you have and whatever artistic medium you are in.

When we say ‘show me the money’, we don’t always want to be taught the back office lessons of personal development, but I have discovered these are equally important to receive the money!

Don’t just take my word for it, listen to the testimonials of Bob’s other students in WEST that were recorded for this online party taking place tonight.

I wish you could listen in and join us, and maybe you will another time.

How did you discover your voice?

As always, leave me your comments – I enjoy reading these stories.

To your journey!

Amanda

Every picture tells a story maybe a cliche, but it applies when you are lost for words. This is where art therapy can help. It helped me to tell my story about my journey through cancer, when words felt so inadequate. How do you tell your family your heart is breaking wide open when they are scared for you? How do you even allow yourself to feel the heartbreak? I put my feelings into the paint is how.

This painting was one of my first, and the image of the cradle is a symbol which helped me to understand more of my story.

During the last ten years, art therapy has grown to be recognised as a major force in the complementary care of seriously ill patients.

The British Association of Art Therapists defines art therapy as: a form of psychotherapy that uses art media as its primary mode of communication.

Camilla Connell, art therapist and author of ‘Something Understood’ says, ‘what more could be hoped for, in the face of the mystery of our existence, that something should be understood?’

What are you struggling to understand or express? If you can’t find words here’s what to do:

Grab some paper, preferably A3.

Buy a set of paint brushes – craft stores and children’s learning centres have a good supply.

Buy 4 pots of paint in red, yellow, white and blue.

Sit at your kitchen table and cover this with plastic.

Switch your phones off, play some music you love and start painting!

Remember you are not trying to create a great work of art, you are using the paint to express yourself.

Paint for 30 minutes and then sit back. You will be amazed at what you see.

Painting are stories without words, and each one is unique. If you would like more tips on how to create your own art practice, sign up for my newsletter in the top right corner of my blog.