09/11/2025
Once upon a time I thought watercolours were insipid and boring.
Then I found myself needing an easy and portable creative outlet and the great pivot occurred.
It's Spring of 2020 and I am commuting from Sydney where I'm living, to Bowral where Mum is living.
She'd been diagnosed with terminal cancer some months before.
We're both brittle and softening and frightened and brave.
It's wild how so many states can be present in such times.
When I'm afraid I want to turn down uncertainty and so I want to control anything in sight.
And that's where the magic of watercolours gave me something profound. If you've played with watercolours, you'll know the pigment is nothing without water.
It's the water that is the life-force.
And, it's this magical force, the water that demands a co-creation, not control.
This, 'once scoffed at' medium now became my greatest teacher of surrender and allowing at a time when my usual resources were not helping.
Fast ward 3 months when Mum was close to then end I'd lie next to her in her bed and together we'd watercolour doodle. These shared pages of colour were to became some of our most intimate typically non speaking times.
Nowadays I offer Mindful Watercolour Workshops for the single reason that I know the profound impact of surrender when amidst a creative endeavour and then, the power of trust.
If this speaks to you, my website has a bunch of options.
https://www.sarahnortoncreative.com/workshops
