DO YOU WANT TO PAINT WITHOUT STRESS OR SELF DOUBT?

Art-making can be a very liberating activity. You can get in the flow, forget about yourself, and just play with the colors, the shapes, the textures. Simply enjoy the process and watch the painting unfold.

But so often it doesn’t work that way. Painting sometimes becomes a struggle. The voice in your head is criticizing you. You doubt yourself. You wonder if you’re meant to be an artist. And you ask yourself: is this it? Why can’t painting be a free-flowing, inspiring experience? Why is this all so difficult?

Before you know it, you throw in the towel. You put your paints and your brushes in a closet. You decide: painting isn’t for you.

That hurts.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

If you learn to let go of the voice in the head and surrender to the painting process in the Now, your best art flows freely out of your hands. Your ego comes to a standstill. The voice in the head finally shuts up. You’re free to paint from a deeper place inside yourself. That’s a such an joyful process!

This flows over to the rest of your life

This ability to let go of the voice inside your head and to be in the Now makes painting a wonderful experience. But it can also help you to develop the same attitude to the rest of your life.

This way, your painting practice becomes a spiritual practice. Not with your eyes closed, not sitting on a meditation cushion, but with a paintbrush in your hand and paint on your fingers. You surrender to the painting process, and you surrender to the Now at the same time.

How do you start painting in such a free and liberating way?

The secret is to not think, but let the painting process itself take the lead. To be able to do that, you have to practice letting go of your pre-conceived notions about how your paintings should look like. You have to get used to not-knowing where the painting is going.

And since we’re so used to controlling our lives that might not always be easy.

Getting used to letting go is the key to free, intuitive painting

The secret behind painting in a free and liberating way is allowing the painting to unfold by itself, and letting go of the controlling mind.

In order to do so, I’ve developed six ‘Art of Now Games’. These games invite you to joyfully play with paint, markers and crayons. They draw you out of the seriousness that can spoil the fun of intuitive art marking. They help you to unravel the true power of your inner artist.

It’s not about ‘just doing something’

If you would be given the advice ‘Just do something’, you most probably get stuck in the mud. ‘Just do something’ is too vague, too wide. There are too many possibilites to try out, too many directions to go. Before you know it you feel lost and don’t get anywhere.

The six visual elements

To give you a handhold, I introduce six visual elements:

• marks & lines
• color
• value
• shapes & images
• texture
• depth

These visual elements give you a sense for what an abstract painting encompasses. They offer you a kind of basic structure that you always can come back to.

This structure is so simple, that it doesn’t hinder your free expression. On the contrary, they invite you to explore how your marks and lines look, what colors you love, what shapes and images come up from your subconsciousness.

This way, your very personal art can come to the surface, and you will develop your very own style.

Practice, practice, practice

And once you get the idea of how it is to let go, and let the visual elements appear on the paper as they present themselves to you, it’s a matter of practice, practice, practice.

Our tendency to be focused on the outcome, and to control the process is deeply engrained. To be able to paint in the Now, you practice to let go, to let go again, and to let go another time. That’s why painting in the Now can be like a spiritual practice.

The six ‘Art of Now Games’ help you to do so. Whenever you feel stuck and ‘out of the Now’, you can play another Art of Now Game, over and over again.

At a certain moment, painting freely in the Now becomes a habit. You don’t worry about the outcome anymore. Because you’ve learned to trust the process, and you’ve learned to embrace and appreciate every painting that comes out of your hands.

This course is for you if:

• You have never painted before, and don’t know how to start
• You have painted realistically, but want to start making abstract art
• You are already making abstract art, but you feel stuck, uninspired or blocked
• You love painting, but you lose your joy in the process because your inner critic is too active
• You want to develop a more personal style that reflects who you are
• You feel that your paintings are stiff and ‘overthought’
• You keep on doubting and second guessing during the painting process

INTRODUCTION

I’ll give you and overview of the course, and introduce you to the materials and tools that you need, and give you a detailed shopping list. This shopping list will be quite short since you don’t need a lot of expensive materials to make art.

Here you can access the course page.

MODULE 1

In the first module, I’ll give you four (audio)meditations to help you center yourself and work from a state of ease and joy. They’re called:

• Entering the Now
• Letting go of thoughts
• Loving yourself and you work

MODULE 2

In the second module, I’ll introduce the six visual elements: marks & lines, color, value, shapes & images, texture, and depth. This module encourages you to explore every single element separately.

MODULE 3

In this module, I’ll introduce you to the first game: the Card Game. In this game, you’ll use randomness and chance to experiment with the six visual elements.

MODULE 4

The second game is called: the Speed Game. If you’ve got all the time in the world to make a painting, chances are that you start overthinking and doubting. This game helps you to stay out of that.

MODULE 5

Game 3 is called: the Simplicity Game. If you give yourself too many possibilities, you might get overwhelmed and get nowhere. In this game, you’ll restrict yourself – which paradoxically gives you more freedom.

MODULE 6

In this module, you’ll play the fourth game: the Color Game. You learn to let go, not get attached and kill your darlings.

MODULE 7

Game 5 is another let-go-game: the Value Game. It resembles the fourth game – but with a very different effect.

MODULE 8

In this module, you’ll learn to play game 6: the Cut Game. You surprise yourself by making drastic changes to your painting – which gives you new starting points over and over again.

My name is Simone Nijboer

My name is Simone Nijboer. I’m an artist and a life coach, and I live in the Netherlands. 

Being an artist, I know how fundamental creativity is for living a joyful and fulfilling life. And being a coach, I know how important it is to create change from a deep and still place inside of yourself.

The beautiful thing about making art is that it helps you to combine both. It’s wonderful to express yourself in a creative way. And it invites depth and stillness in your life, from where wisdom, truth, and power can emerge.

Join me!

If you would like to make art from inner stillness, practice being in the Now and enjoy the creative life, be welcome to join ‘The Art of Now’!

I haven’t painted before. Is this course for me?

Yes. Making The Art of Now is not difficult at all – anyone can do it – So it is a perfect place to start your creative art-making adventure. You don’t need to have any experience in painting.

I have already quite a bit of painting experience. Is this course for me?

Yes. This course is all about letting go, exploration, and experimentation! That can be very helpful if you have a lot of experience, but feel blocked in any way.

What materials do I need?

In this course, I work with only three colors of acrylic paint (plus black and white). One red-ish, one blue-ish, one yellow-ish.

Two of them (and black and white) can be student-grade paint, and one of them needs to be professional paint. Next to that, you need some mark making and other tools, like brushes.

Follow this link to find the course curriculum. In the module about ‘Materials’ you’ll find a detailed shopping list, and a 20 minute video about the materials.

How much physical space do I need?

Playing the six games in this course can easily fit into your life without the need for a big studio. You can just work right in a corner at your kitchen table! A table specially reserved for making art is convenient, but not necessary. Since you don’t need a lot of supplies, you can easily store them in a box and carry them around.

Do you teach me to paint in your style?

No. You are a unique human being, and that’s why your style is or will be unique.

In the course, I will show you a way of being during the painting process. A free, spontaneous, intuitive, fluid, energetic, and bodily way of being. Painting this way will help you to unleash your very personal style – so that’s the opposite of learning to paint in a specific style.

Of course, you might be inspired by the kind of marks I make or the colors I choose. But if you paint from this place of freedom, your personal style will emerge all of its own.

Is the course in English?

Yes!

How long do I have access to the course?

If you buy the course separately, you’ll have access as long as the course exists, or at least one year.

What if I’m not happy with the course?

If you buy the course separately, you’ll have a 14-day money back guarantee. Just send me an email in that case.

I have a question that’s not on this list.

Please drop me a line at simone-at-simonenijboer.com, and I’ll be happy to answer all of your questions.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this page!

I am sure this course will give you the tools to get your art practice up and running or give you new inspiration to dive into your creativity. Be welcome to join me, and experience the joy of making art in the Now!