Sometimes you need to revive your creativity, or just try something new for the heck of it. I decided to connect with my inner self during a moon phase paint class with Creative Resilience Studio & Gallery. These classes happen about once a month. Like that “Hey Girl!” DM, you can count on seeing them around each full or new moon.
The class works similar to a paint and sip night but with more intention, which is what I needed as someone who does too much thoughtless doomscrolling.
Every class is completely different, which keeps things interesting. The night I went happened to be a “Strawberry Moon” so that was our paint theme. Despite sounding like the name of a country song, it is actually a celestial event named by Native Americans marking strawberry season. This moon might have a reddish hue, but doesn’t actually glow pink. We painted it that way anyway, because we can. #Symbolism.
After grabbing our art supplies and aprons (no need to bring anything except yourself, an open mind and maybe some snacks), we started with a short guided meditation to release all the baggage we’ve been lugging around. The idea is to let go of all the things no longer serving you during the next moon cycle. Spoiler: you quite literally paint out the negativity.
Many people came with friends but these classes work well as a solo self-care night, like I had. The evenings are BYOB and snacks but everyone was friendly enough to share. You don’t know true kindness until a stranger offers you a cosmic brownie mid-moon meditation.
The studio is ran by Nicole Sinay Torres who told us to release our expectations for the canvas. For the perfectionists in the room (hi, it’s me), she reminded us that’s what the alcohol is for.
Laughter and conversation filled the intimate space as we painted. The studio itself is cozy and filled with color, plants and twinkle lights. And yes, ambiance 100% impacts creativity. Science probably agrees with me on that.
After the guided portion of the night, we were set free to express ourselves however the artistic spirit (or wine) moved us. We could add more paint, dive into stencils, slap on some collage, or sprinkle glitter if we were feeling particularly brave. No two paintings were alike by the end of the evening.
Also, everyone was like, really encouraging. I mean I had the eyeballs to see that at a certain point in my rogue experimentation, I should’ve just set down the paintbrush. But Nicole (and others) still found nice details to point out, parts of my painting that made it unique and beautiful in its own way, I guess.
I’m not going to say the moon worked some sort of magic overnight and got rid of all my problems, but I did wake up with some good energy thanks to my adult arts-and-crafts session and new friends. It also prompted me to research more about moon phases which, yes, is still looking at a screen but hey this time it had intention, okay? We all gotta start somewhere.
*Moon phase paint nights are 21+. See upcoming paint classes from Creative Resilience Studio & Gallery here.
**This piece was submitted as a SwayTake, which are anonymous, first-person posts occasionally featured in The Sway. Submit your own at hello@itsthesway.com.
