From Purple Paint To Purple Paintings

It started with purchasing a tube of purple acrylic paint. Why, I had no idea. I was drawn to it. I liked that it was on sale, too.

The paint sat there and I wondered some more – why did I buy this? What was I going to use it for?

purple paint and palette

Still no clue. But I trusted my intuition and I let it sit for a while longer.

Then one day an image flashed into my mind. A purple painting. It was soft, serene, romantic. I got excited. I wondered, how could I translate this image onto a canvas?

Then a week ago on the National Day of Mourning here in the Netherlands I started painting the image I’d seen. It was a warm, sunny day and I set up my stuff in the garden. I did it in honour of the people who lost their lives when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 went down on July 17th, 2014, many of whom were from the Netherlands, some were only one degree separated from me.

Life is precious, life is meant to be a joy, doing what you love, feeling good in every single moment. I knew on that day of mourning I had to paint. It is what I love, it’s where I feel most alive. I trusted that once I started painting with the purple I would be guided to paint the picture in my mind’s eye.

peace and harmony

And I did. I mixed the purple with titanium white and a bit of cobalt blue. I haven’t stopped since: I’ve finished three more and I am on my fifth. Collectively, they’re called “Lilac Dreams”, a wonderful title suggested by my lovely mum. The one in the photo from the National Day of Mourning is called “Peace and Harmony”.

I am pleased I followed and trusted my intuition. There is magic everywhere and in every moment when you do what you love and love what you do, no matter what that is.

How can you start to trust and follow your intuition / gut instinct? What are you drawn to, and what can you do about it?