Nourishing My Heart With Art And Bigelow Tea

This past weekend, I got my hands dirty and made some art. Specifically the canvas you see above. Looking at it makes me happy, calm, at peace. (Click the above picture for a closer look.)

Lately I haven’t done a great job of nourishing myself. I’m feeding my mind with my work, but I’ve been neglecting my body. Mainly through lack of sleep because I’m working so much. Still, I’m not writing off nourish, my word of the year, as a failure. Nope. Life is a work in progress, right?

In an attempt to consume less caffeine (and hopefully fall asleep faster when I make it to my bed), I’ve taken to drinking a hot cup of tea in the evenings. Before I even sit down at my desk, I heat up tea kettle. As I wait for the kettle’s happy whistle, I open up a bag of tea in preparation. Ever since my artist date with Bigelow tea, I’ve been trying their many different flavors. Their tea comes in such color wrappers, I couldn’t bear throwing them out. I started saving them, one or two each night.

My ritual of brewing my nightly cup of tea becomes a sort of meditation. I love working from home and night time is when my work “day” begins. My mug of tea shifts my focus from busy mother to woman following her passion, aka my work. My steaming mug of Bigelow Earl Grey tea is my commute to work, so to speak. Bigelow’s Earl Grey was the very first earl grey I ever tasted. I used to be a tea snob and would only try exotic flavored tea (whatever that means). I thought earl grey was too pedestrian. What was I thinking? Now earl grey is one of my favorites teas.

On Saturday, my husband worked an extra long shift. It’s usually his day off so it was weird to have the apartment all to myself when the kids (finally) fell asleep. What to do with this alone time? So I decided to pull out my acrylic paints. It’s been at least six months since I dug them out. Acrylic paints are my favorite type of paints, but I use my watercolors more because they’re easier and low mess. I love dipping my brush through a puddle of acrylic paint. Then slapping the creamy paint in wide strokes across my canvas. They make me happy. Creating art and getting paint on my hands makes me happy. I’m the kind of artist who enjoys getting messy when I paint.

While I don’t always find time to create art, my brain is always looking at objects around me in different ways. When I pulled my blue acrylic paints out, I grabbed the bag of empty, foil lined Bigelow tea wrappers that I collected. I was excited to use them in my art. I had no idea what I wanted to paint or how I would use the tea wrappers. I listened to my heart and painted what made me happy. That night, for some reason, deep blues called to me. I found blue and silver Earl Grey and English Teatime wrappers in my stash. Can you believe I could still smell the earl grey fragrance inside them? 

I cut up the tea wrappers. Soon the wrappers became leaves on a strong branches that shimmered in the night. My hands became covered in blue paint.

As I painted and created, I forgot how tired I’d been. I forgot about the giant pile of dirty dishes in the sink. I forgot about the cityscapes of books I needed to read. No to-do lists tugged at my mind. No restlessness tugged my heart. I felt centered in a way I haven’t felt in weeks.

It was just me and my paints. Just me and my happy place.

My soul felt nourished. Nourished by my art and nourished my Bigelow tea.

I’m definitely not going to wait another six months before pulling out my favorite paints again.

This post was written for a Bigelow Tea contest, however I have fallen in love with their Earl Grey and their Black Pomegranate tea. All the tea was personally purchased and consumed for the sake of my sanity and for art. All opinion and art inspiration are my own.