By Emily Harrison Mary Caia is an intuitive painter who has been allowing the internal expression and creativity shown to her through meditation, relaxation and dreams to transfer externally to the canvas.

She describes the process of her collection ‘Where did you go?’ as a dance created over five years.

“It was about trusting to put the images I see on to canvas, as well as trusting to go to the next image if that came along before the previous was finished. It’s allowed the direction to come from within, from the heart rather than the mind and the result is a deep inner joy that you can feel,” explains Mary.

“It can be scary , but at the same time fun and deeply rewarding,” she says.

"Emerging" 76cm x 90cm Oil on Canvas

As we looked at in last month’s post, meditation helps to quieten the mind. And from a creativity perspective it’s during such moments of stillness that insight and inspiration can occur.

Mary describes these moments as part of an integral to her artistic process: “meditation is about stilling the mind and centering through the breath, and sometimes in that space, which could just be half a second, the image appears – simple and clear,” she says.

But like all goals worth working towards, it does require self-discipline and regular practice.  For example Mary has an ongoing morning practice of no more than 20 minutes.

“It’s about becoming the observer and watching the thoughts. Observing the thoughts can take you in a quiet space and with regular practice you may find you can easily go into a nice deep state,” she says.

"Choices" 122cm x 76cm Oil on Canvas

Another interesting concept Mary touches on is that through her artwork and painting she has learned non-attachment.  That is to say, while there may be a physical end product of the artwork, the process is about allowing the true creative expression to flow through you.

“This will then go to the person that needs it, who will be inspired by it,” she says.

Importantly, Mary reminds us gently that we ‘cannot force the flow.’ She has learned to juggle working on a few pieces at a time and also learned to be ok with periods of not painting.

“Once you force, it becomes about the final product and who it is going to please rather than painting for the pleasure of painting,” she says.

“I learnt through the experience of meditation and allowed creativeness to walk a path of my choice and by connecting internally every morning before entering and tackling the objective world. Life is at it’s most rewarding when you can make the changes at whatever age or circumstances with confidence and with a deeper knowledge of the soul’s purpose and guidance.”

You can see more of Mary Caia’s work at her website marycaia.com

Emily Harrison is a yoga teacher and writer who often has a mind that runs like an excitable puppy.  She finds taking time for yoga, meditation and relaxation is important to keep the puppy under control (along with a sense of humour). You can read more at iamem.com