The Rain Prayed (With Her) was one of the first paintings I painted during my period of “Spirited Solitude”. Other than a passive participation in elementary and middle school art classes, I didn’t paint for myself until late 2016, early 2017.
In 2011, I bought art supplies for the first time, ahead of the one year anniversary of my dad’s fatal car accident. Not knowing how the weight of grief would weigh on me, I decided to go to the craft store with my niece, Mikayla. We ended up with a cart full of art supplies.
September 2, 2011 came, and Mikayla and I spent the day outside painting. When we were done, we placed our pieces on the grille daddy had recently got. He was excited about it. It was a makeshift shrine, and really, my introduction into a spiritual path of sensing God’s prayers within the patterns and healing power of nature.
I didn’t return to those art supplies for close to 6 years, but once I began painting, I didn’t want to stop.
My first realized experience with flow state with painting was while creating “The Rain Prayed (With Her)”
While fooling around with a new technique, I decided to return to painting how I always paint and create how I always create, which is to go in unplanned and flow as well as I can with the art. In this space, I allow myself to be the instrument.
Flow, is like a trance-like state with the removal of self-doubt and criticism. When I stepped away from my painting, I saw something God had created in that flow state. I wrote about the experience in my notes:
The other night I stood outside and let the pouring rain wash over me. The moment felt so beautiful. As I sent prayers in the rain, I knew God was listening… and speaking right back to me. I’ve experienced some of the most beautiful moments recently, with rain pouring over me and the skies praying with me. This painting, I feel, is a visual of those deeply spiritual moments.
Noèl Clark, 2017
