We first met Giselle Denis during the year of our wedding, when we asked her whether she might consider painting live at our wedding reception in late 2016. Giselle is an artist of many talents, and paints live at the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald among her various art engagements. She graciously agreed to do so and transformed the night into a magical experience. We have kept in touch since then and are continually struck by her kind, down to earth and genuine attitude. She is a lovely person to know and such an amazing artist! More of her art can be viewed at her website, http://www.giselledenis.com/ She is also on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram. She is the first Guest Contributor to our blog, and we hope to add this series on a monthly basis, to reflect how various individuals build mindfulness into their lives. Here are her answers to a Q and A on how mindfulness weaves into her creative process. Feel free to contact her if you’d like to connect about her art or her creative process. Enjoy!
1. Is mindfulness (being fully aware of the present moment just the way it is) part of your creative process? Part of the process of imagining and bringing your art to life?
Mindfulness is what I strive for when creating for sure. My studio is always set up & ready for me to paint as inspiration hits me, and when I must go and create even on a timeline. When you set yourself up for success, physically, mentally, emotionally & spiritually, this allows real authenticity to show up in your work. I am intentionally mindful of limiting my access and time to distractions. Perhaps being distracted is the opposite to mindfulness. And there are so many these days! In the peak hour of technology and social media, the more time you spend at it, the more urgency you feel to always be plugged into it. And that is all great for business and everything, but what are we intentionally doing to remove all distractions and set ourselves up for success by making time, setting time aside for creative things? Some examples for me include something as simple as staying true and dedicating time to the things I love. I.e: We live on a 3 acre property just 10 minutes from the city. That is one decision we made. Is it sometimes inconvenient? Yes absolutely. But I enjoy that drive to and from the city as down time for my brain to rest. Often it is quiet for me in my vehicle. No radio, no podcasts, no music. I do the same thing in my private studio time. I find I go through seasons, but there is always a time for quieting my world. And it takes discipline and an intentional choice to be alone with my thoughts. When you brain has time to rest from all of those things, you can almost feel it being rejuvenated. There is too much noise. Another thing we’ve chosen to do is not have Netflix. We have never had it, and we figured since we’ve gone this long and survived without it, why start now? We own a TV, for us, we decided it wasn’t a need. It’s funny, because I am not even talking about the creative process yet, but it’s amazing how simple it is to further your creativity by simply unplugging and turning off! By being mindful, in all other areas in life, this rules your creativity. It’s like it cleans out the pipes where creativity can flow freely.
2. Have you noticed that your ability to notice the present moment has deepened over the years that you’ve been creating art?
Yes, the ability to be in the present moment takes practice. When people ask me, “How did you just create that from your mind?” I remind them that it is a practice I have developed. A discipline to always be creating. The longer you wait in between the thing you are doing, the harder it is to start. Starting is always the hardest part, but if you are ’starting’ every single day, starting becomes easy. Second nature. You do’n’t take days or weeks to start. Where it’s a daily practice, it becomes a part of who you are. Now, if a few days go by and I haven’t painted, I feel an urgency and even anxiety build up within me. Like a while animal that must be let out of it’s cage. Creativity, when it is there, needs to be expressed. It is an expression that exists within us all. But once you have begun to, say, awaken the beast, it cries out to be set free. It is not something you can hold within yourself for too long. Creativity finds it’s way out of each one of us in some form or another whether we realize it or not. When you are dipping into the well of ideas that you have opened up, the more often you create, the more ideas you will have. The well of ideas never runs dry when you are continually, habitually making the effort to dip into that well on a regular basis. There are deeper and deeper caverns of ideas that exist, so will reveal themselves to you as you are faithful in dipping into that well that is there for all of us to go down into.
3. Has a mindful perspective when creating your art also influenced being that way in other parts of your life?
Yes for sure. While painting in the quiet of my studio, I have blocked out that time for painting, but it causes me to reflect on things in life. How I’m treating my husband and my son. It makes me think about my friends and people I’ve met. My art, over the years, I’ve realized, has really become about people. I am very sensitive and people affect me, possibly more than the average person. I allow those thoughts and feelings I have about people and experiences I’ve had to influence how I name a painting. I like to express what I was thinking and feeling while creating a painting by telling the stories and thoughts behind each piece. It is two-fold. The art is about people and about the images, and how the two combined, express thoughts and ideas from the one holding the brush. I think with most art it is like that. You can almost feel the spirit behind the painting from the one who made it. Art speaks, whether we realize it or not. Some art is silent. Some art is angry. Some if afraid. Some is bold. Some is compassionate. Some is hopeful. All art has a message.
4. What are some things you notice in the present moment when you paint? Certain thoughts, emotions, your breathing or physical sensations? Do you notice colors, textures, other sights or sounds that bring you into awareness of the present moment?
Sometimes if it is cold and dreary outside, my art will be darker and less bold, but not he other hand, perhaps my mood might be to contrast what is happening outside and my spirits need lifting and the painting is happy and bright and bolder to perhaps unlock and bring an escape into a happier more joyful place. Or if I am going through something emotional, I just paint and feel it and don’t think about it too much. I enjoy the process of creating, that it is a very spontaneous thing that is done in the moment. I don’t plan every single painting. Sometimes I load my palette knife with a random colour and just hit the canvas with no plan or direction. Sometimes it takes that step to know what should come next. You have to trust the process that no matter what happens, you will enjoy making it. Not every painting is a masterpiece, and I don’t put that pressure on myself. Sometimes, when I am going through something particularly difficult, I am booked and I can’t paint anything. But other times, in that same difficult head space I am in, I can paint through it and make a great painting. You never really know what is going to happen next. Even on good days, I can mess up a painting and wonder what happened!
5. Do you tend to notice both the art and the surroundings simultaneously when you paint? Or do you attend wholly to the art and then notice other things only after you complete a painting session?
When I am painting in the privacy of my studio, it is such a quiet, reflective time to be alone and have hours to create, so I am nothing more the brushstrokes, trying new things and with hours of uninterrupted time set aside, there is nothing like it. I cherish that time as life can get so busy. I try and not answer my phone or emails during that time and only dedicate that time to the studio. When I am live painting, it requires so much focus as I have to split my brain from creating, to also talking with people, which makes it difficult to access the right and left brain. I can get quite into it, and if someone comes to speak with me while I am painting, I am happy to talk with them, but it is a completely different experience – live painting over studio painting. I enjoy both, for different reasons. It is great to be able to share my process publicly, but I most enjoy painting int eh privacy of my studio.
6. How does the process of being in the present moment influence your creativity?
When I allow too many distractions, it causes some inner frustration. So, in the studio, I try and have a 2-6 hours of uninterrupted time to create. I prefer to make a painting from start to finish in one session. I don’t prefer to stop mid way through a painting, and complete it over a few days time if I can help it. It is kind of like finishing a good book from cover to cover. Or like having a intimate conversation with a good friend. You have something to tell them and you want to tell the whole story from start to finish with all the details. It has the most profound affect by sharing it in the moment. The whole thing. That is how I like to make a painting.
