“I didn’t realize how important art was for me until I had to get through some really tough times in my youth.  Sometimes when you have no words to express what you are feeling it’s easier to create some form of visual representation of your emotions than to write about them.  Art itself is an emotion.” ~ Kristine Reiner

I was eating with a group of friends at a cafe recently when a trip to the bathroom, to wash my hands, turned into a profound discovery.  I noticed a woman painting on a canvas.  The image piqued my interest so much that I had to stop and ask about it.  The painter graciously took my questions and then pointed across the room to another woman and said, “That’s my teacher.”, so I found my way over and was greeted with the most alive and positive energy I’ve felt in some time.  This woman just seemed to emanate happiness.  Looking around I noticed that she was teaching a group of students to paint with, get this, rose petals instead of paint brushes! 

Having never seen this technique before, I asked her, “How in the world did you discover you can paint with roses?”  She smiled and said, “Well, someone gave me roses one time and I didn’t really know what to do with them so I started using them as paint brushes.”  She said this so matter of factly, as if this perfectly quirky and brilliant creative leap would occur to anyone in the same position.  “The rose petals worked and I hate cleaning paint brushes, so I kept using them.”  

Kristine Reiner is proof positive that sometimes our wildest, most creatively unique ideas aren’t meant for us alone.  They can inspire lots of people.  Her students love the medium and she calls her classes Roses and Lattes.

A few months after this, I met with Kristine over Zoom to prepare for this episode.  We talked at length about how art is a vital way for people to express emotions that are locked deep within them that are sometimes difficult to express or define otherwise.  That the process of creating art can be healing and essential to survival.  

I’m excited to learn more about the aesthetic pleasure of viewing art, what it’s like teaching art, and how vital art can be to the artist as they seek to survive and thrive in the world around them.

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**Video broadcast available** on YouTube @imperfectbest

**Learn more about Jason Freeman** at AwkwardlyAwesome.com