"To paint is to love again."

"Paint what you like and die happy," Henry Miller once wrote.

Recently, my beloved friend, Viki, reminded me that Henry Miller the writer was also a prolific painter of watercolors. In fact, he was painting years before he began writing. He completed over 3,000 paintings during his long life. One of his books was entitled: "To Paint is to Love Again." It is now out of print and available at some university libraries. You can hear Miller recite the book in a series of videos on YouTube.

How true! The above painting is "Paint Happy" done in acrylic, oil and cold wax on 16" x 20" canvas. I think of it as a self-portrait. It started with a dot, just one dot. I allowed my intuitive self to go from there--picking the colors, shapes and lines.

Miller said: "Painting is like stealing a glimpse of your beloved while she sleeps."

For me, painting is pure joy, meditation, adventure, trust and celebration. It is love incarnate.

© Claudia Rose, Ph.D.