Great Questions: Beginning The Drishti Experience project, grants and all

I keep a list of specific questions that I‘ve been accruing for years on a slim white piece of glossy cardboard that I tuck into my current journal. It’s a list of questions that I use as writing prompts to shift my state into a good-feeling state, before going to work on a project.

Today, I need this list.

I’m in a place now where I am going to use these great questions and remember that I chose the past two months, and that there are benefits, and perhaps some magic that may not have occurred to me yet, while I was in the thick of things... 

The background story is that the past two months have been incredibly intense.  I took on some serious grant writing for the first time in my career and wrote three consecutively, each with deadlines within weeks of each other. It’s not that I had not written grants before, but in the past, I didn’t fully believe in myself. This time was different.

How have things improved? 

What improved is that I have a specific project with an end goal and am in collaboration with another party for this. In the past, I had ideas of projects I would propose; however, they were things I wanted to do on my own, with no collaborative partner(s) and no real deadline— nothing as firm and clear as this. This was progress!

As I started answering all the heavy-hitting grant questions, obtained the requested support materials, and created budgets, marketing, and project plans, I got more and more clear about this project. I pondered and articulated: Why now?, why me?, and why this project? To complete the grants, I had to figure all this out, and that was something I’d never done before at this level.

All that grant writing, and even the number crunching, gave me greater clarity about this current project I am now beginning.

I am so clear now that:

I am going to be sharing my journey here with you as a lead up to my first solo exhibit, The Drishti Experience: Capturing the Frequency of My Well-Being. This exhibit will include a series of seven very large (72” x 48” x 1.5”) and seven small paintings (11” x 15”), as well as glass display cases showing my notes, inspirations, and materials, an opening night, and an artist talk. My aim is to create a gallery exhibit that inspires inquiry and conversation around well-being and a show that feels good to visit. I am deeply inspired to share my healing and creative journey. I will now begin here by writing from my heart.

What’s feeling good about this? 

What’s really good about this project is that the vision and premise are completely in synergy with my life path and deep desire to experience and create a life of well-being. It is not like I have to be a different person or go out of my way and change what I do regularly in my day-to-day routine to execute this project. All my regular habits, such as meditation, painting, journal writing, and spending time in nature, are not only supporting my well-being but also exactly what this series of paintings is about. This alignment feels powerful. 

For all the paintings I am creating, I am using layers of mixed media (acrylics, sand, modelling paste, spray paint, pastels, charcoal, gels, polymer mediums and more) with specifically selected colours, compositions, and sacred geometry elements to visually share what I have learned on my healing journey to experience well-being.

The paintings will be on exhibit for two months at the Amelia Douglas Gallery in New Westminster, BC, Canada, from November 2024 to January 2025. I will also be giving an artist talk at the college. 

How is this fun?

What’s working so far to bring in fun while I was writing all those grants was that for my “mental-wellness respite segments” away from number crunching and answering challenging grant questions, I started working on the small study paintings on paper.

These little paintings are the first step in this project. They help me gain confidence and master my approach before I start painting the large paintings. 

In the meantime, I get to explore, be curious, make mistakes, and really enjoy the “figuring it out part” with these little pieces. This was a wonderful way to get out of left brain and back into right brain creative flow-mode!

I am excited to share more about the process of creating these small paintings with you in a later post!… 

For me, this practice, which I’ve maintained for many years now, of creating small paintings, feels not only fun but extremely liberating. It is an experience of play, curiosity, and joy. When I do these pieces, I am in the zone, time disappears, and the process has my full and complete attention.  The feeling of working on these small paintings is that I cannot not do it! 

What am I appreciating here?

Back to finding positive aspects around the grant writing. I am appreciating that all three grants are written, complete, and submitted on time.

I am appreciating that shortly before posting this first article, I have been awarded my first grant, and I’d like to thank the Gabriola Art Council for this generous show of support and contribution to this project. Thank you!

I am also appreciating the opportunity that the framework of this project presents for me a beautiful opportunity to learn more about spirituality, meditation, sacred geometry, colour frequency, and their roles in healing and cultivating well-being—and that I made the decision to write and share my aha’s, discoveries, and learnings here with you!

How am I ameliorating?

I  have not before endeavoured to write about my experiences, my art process, and share behind-the-scenes experiences to this level and depth, simultaneously while working to prepare and create the artwork for my first large scale solo exhibit. I am thankful that this is now the right time to do this because I am now able and everything in my life has led me to this moment.

This will be my first solo large scale exhibit and a wonderful next step in my career.

As I start this journey with you to share my process, stories from my life in pursuit of well-being, and the buildup to creating The Drishti Experience Painting Exhibit, I am so glad for the opportunity to grow in this new way and I thank you for reading and being part of my journey. I am grateful for your support.

#TheDrishtiExperience

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