Peggy Klineman's Meditation Paintings

I am pleased to share with you some of my sister's meditation paintings and her thoughts about creating these pieces.


From Peggy:

"I began doing my meditation paintings as an art making exercise to expand my creativity. Instead of writing daily morning pages after I meditate I decided to try something which spoke more directly to me as a visual artist and more specifically as an abstract painter.

I meditate regularly for 20 to 30 minutes. This is my time to quiet my mind and reach my authentic self. I meditate with no expectation other than following my breath and having as little mind chatter as possible. When I finish I am amazed that it is almost always between 20 to 30 minutes even though I haven't set a timer. I go to my drafting table and begin painting reaching for whatever color feels right. I just start painting shapes, blending colors and scribbling with pencils. Meditation enables me to trust my intuition. I allow myself to be guided by my materials for I am as responsive to the paint, brushes, pencils and whatever other materials I use as they are responsive to my touch. It is a give and take dialogue facilitated by a nonjudgemental quiet mind which allows the painting process to flow freely. An added benefit is that I am finding a new freedom in my studio practice from doing these meditation paintings.

Featured here are three of my favorite works. Additional meditation paintings can be seen at my blog. My personal website where larger paintings and works on paper can be seen is http://www.peggyklineman.com/."

Zen and the art of painting

One of the things I like most about studying with Tony Ryder is his emphasis on painting each stroke with intention and full focus. In our poster studies, we were encouraged to ask ourselves what is the value, hue and intensity for each brush stroke. Each stroke makes it's own statement. This carefulness is carried over into all of our assignments.

Each day begins with getting our palette ready. We check to see if we need to add any paint and if not to use our palette knife to make sure the paint is smooth and usable. Palettes are stored in the freezer overnight and this helps save our paint keeping most colors ready to go the next day. These simple procedures have a meditative quality. As we check our paints our energy transitions to painting.

Once the pose begins with the model a quiet settles over the room. For the next twenty minutes all attention is on the  model with an unhurried sense of capturing the pose. If someone comes in late his/her rush and organizing of materials is definitely an intrusion and slowly all fourteen of us are learning to make sure we are on time and to become considerate of the others. No music plays and if one wants music they listen with earphones.

When Tony demonstrates he talks about focus and intent and demonstrates how a single line or stroke changes the painting.

I am loving this carefulness. Maybe some will say it lacks spontaneity. That is not a problem for me, at least right now. I am learning the appropriate fundamental's of this approach, and seeing progress in this first month as I learn to train my eye and see the shapes and light patterns. There is a peacefulness as I work and Tony has talked about our ability to create best when our minds are open to look clearly and calmly at each shape and interpret it.

While I have done figure drawing before I have never done a portrait so this is a wonderful challenge for me. The picture at the top is a work-in-progress. We began by first doing a poster study focusing only on color, then a charcoal drawing on canvas followed by an ink-in. An ink-in means using an earth tone color with plenty of solvent so that it dries quickly. Then we did a wash of the portrait again using the oil with lots of solvent so that it acts much like watercolor. (That's the stage of the portrait at the top of the page.) This coming week we will start the final painting and have two weeks to complete it.

Check out this link to a blog on Tony's current classes  www.theryderstudio.blogspot.com