Butterfly Dreams!

When I lived in community (Breitenbush Hot Springs), one of my favorite 'good night' blessings was 'Butterfly Dreams!' 

Wash & blocking

A couple of weeks ago, someone mentioned loving the colour Violet Oxide, & I decided to use that in my next wash .... My friend Leonard picked up a couple of canvases (22 x 28") when they were on sale at his campus bookstore, so I used one of those.  

When I was playing with paint on canvas, I found I had swirled butterfly wings ... what next?
A butterfly lady, of course! I played with lavender for her face, & for 'hair,' little spiky streeks ... antenae, and of course the wings

Fender's Blue female

As I was admiring some other lovely Ladies, I began thinking about her, that brownish violet in the wash, and realized she was a Blue - & 'not just any blue, but Fender Blue!' (Icaricia icaricaroides fenderi) As a kid, I always loved seeing a cloud of little blue butterflies fluttering above a puddle. 

 The Fender blue is specific to the Willamette Valley, was named for my father-in law in 1931, by his friend & fellow 'buterfly collector' Ralph Macy. By the end of that decade, it was thought to be extinct. Then, few years after his passing, it was rediscovered! (1989) Now a number of little 'sanctuaries' have been set up - scotch broom & blackberries mowed, & their host plant, the Kincaid lupin & favorite nectar mallows encouraged ... & the blues have returned to the valley & coast! 

Icaricia, Butterfly Queen

The males are Lôvélÿ soft blue, females tan...
So I added fringe on the edges of Her wings, (and marveled I'd already used that for "hair"!), stripes of pearl paint on her antenna, and a bit more adornment, ... a few orbs....




Icaricia, Butterfly Queen invites us to STOP and enjoy the flowers!

Their fragrances, their bright joyful colours!
Enjoy them ALL! 

Icaricia

Have favorites! 
Cut back invasive species & Plant those native to your area - see who comes to enjoy them!!
It's up to you to enjoy & nurture the garden of life!


Happy Paint Party Friday!

Painting up a storm!

This is my 50th post!! I love this little Creation Station, & hope it inspires your own creativity ....
 
Since beginning painting again last February, when I took Elisabeth's Muse encounter workshop, I have been painting up a storm!! Fifteen finished, or nearly so!  

On Summer Solstice, after finishing the second of my Art of Allowing ladies, Sekhmet, I had a 'council' meeting with 11 of the 12 of paintings I'd done, & my "star lady" wall hanging in the background ... 
The smallest paintings were done onmatt board & on a practice canvas. With 'Green Girl' I was experimenting with sea weed for hair ....

Spirit Council

Gabriella, Mary, Daffy-Down-Dilly

Gabriella - my Muse of Creativity - I've refined her face, & added ribbons to her dress ... her hair has some interference paint 'sparkle'

Mary of Magdalla - painted with inspiration from Shiloh Sophia McCloud
 & little Daffy-Down-Dilly (March)

Dancers, Wind Horse

Then "Dancers" which I began in March, on International Women's day, & gifted to my ballet teacher Emma Seth to hang in the studio July 8th. I used Flora Aube's 'scrubby technique on the Snow Queen's hair, crown & shoulders, and interference paint on the free form dancer.

"Wind Horse" is a favorite! Began this one in March (the canvas seemed big to me!) during my first 'open studio' day, painting with my friend Elisabeth. It's another I completed during the Art of Allowing course. For the horse's features, I was inspired by my friend in the course Ree Altavilla.

"Presence" was done honoring my Mom (I blogged about her here & here) & there's a little 'blue woman' on card beside her.

Yarrow Rose, Healer

 I painted "Yarrow Rose" to grace my healing room, using Shiloh's Mary Magdalene videos for inspiration & guidance. The flowers in her mantle are all healing herbs, & gases at her signature Yarrow. I finished her at the end of June, adding the purple background & Tree of Life.
(she was in my treatment room during the 'council' meeting)

Several more have 'come through' the creative pathway since this council, I'll tell you more about them later, & about Sekhmet, my fiery Solstice lady!

Happy painting!

Art of Allowing Spirit Dancer

Spirit Dancer - detail

    Spirit Dancer

The Drumbeat calls me forth
  To dance the Spirit Song
From Age to Age revealed
  in glory, in beauty, in peace.
Stars and moon, they dance through me! 
  Sea and shore, I hear their call
Mountain and River sing me home
* I dance *
Eagle & dove
  wing through my prayers
Child and maiden
  Life giver, crone
I AM ageless and timeless
  Beyond all, within all
Salmon swims and deer grazes
  Owl calls names
And still I dance

Spirit Dancer

I dance the Unborn, the departed
  The disenfranchized, the whole
I dance the captain and the king
  the minstrel and the drummer
  the courtisan and the Lady
I dance within, without
  Beyond & forever
I Dance
   I Dance
      I Dance!!
        I Dance your Spirit Home!!

Art of Allowing Painting 1

The invitation to Flora Aube's Art of Allowing was simple - "WE are on the journey of becoming, and the most graceful way through is to learn the art of Allowing; deeply listening for when to move and when to be still, when to charge against the edges and when to sit in our breath. It is cultivating the wisdom of relationship with the Great Mystery and serving as a midwife to the birth of Beauty in our lives and on our planet. This is the high art of embodying the Priestess within, empowered with full access to our divine gifts of Creativity."

Plein Aire studio

The time was right, I had just finished Mary of Magdalla, & was ready for more. The price was affordable, I said 'yes!' We spent a couple of weeks getting our studios ready (spring cleaning, painting one wall!) & sketching faces ....

We are about halfway through the course at this time - having painted one image, & just beginning a second (the class goes through June, and we'll have access to the videos throughout the summer).

"Painting happens INSIDE us, it's our job to give it birth!" 

We were invited to stay open to the mystery, tap our intuition & inner knowing as we moved into the creative - or Cre-ACT-ive process!
"This is a priactice, an unbelievable gift! Her love knows no limits!" 

Wash: Green Gold & Yellow ochre

Thursday May 15 it was a lovely sunny day, and I set up outside, taking a hazel pruning from last fall, that I'd cut low, & then noticed it would make a great bean (or other) support. A bit of time with some string & a couple of small oak branches, & I had a plein aire easel! (which I subsequently brought inside! 

Flora invited us to take a couple of hours with the wash - dilute paint & water, which we spread over the canvas ....

After the canvas dried, we could transfer a sketch from the faces we'd been drawing, or something seen in the canvas, & then begin blocking in with colour. I'd decided to go with dark skin tones, for the first time, so did a bit of research to choose colours!  

"When you invoke Her from this deep place of Soul, She is the Goddess revealed. She is birthed from the seed within you. She is a gift with a clear message!" Flora Aube.

Blocked

I used my friend Margaret Duperly's 'Rainbow Earth Tarot' to do a reading before beginning. A couple of the cards bespoke heartbeat/drum, so I brought my small drum outside, & as I applied the wash, at times I'd drum on the canvas! I spied a little dancer, & a face similar to the one I'd sketched in my wash! A fun part of having this makeshift easel, the twin sticks for supporting the canvas have a space in the middle, perfect for holding a corner of the canvas when I was tipping it to let the wash run! 

We were invited to spend a couple of days each week 'tending to our souls,' & I wrote "I intend to tend my soul with dance and art. I dedicate my creative energy to healing, wholing, & radiating Light! I was born to share my gifts & live with radical abundance! I am a dancer, a healer, a mystic & a mystery. I stand in my power & empower/inspire others to stand in theirs." ...

Lights & darks

I have been to weekly ballet class, got flowers for my office, & an African Violet for my art space. I have music on while I'm painting, & a candle lit. Sometimes incense ...

I used Yellow ochre (3 parts), Indian Yellow (3 parts),  burnt Umber (1 part), Quinacridone violet (1 part), & some of the Glazing Liquid for her base skin tone. 

One of my classmates wrote: "allowing is much softer than 'letting go' or 'giving up control,' Allowing - that asks for trust! What a beautiful process..."

Flora Asked us "What do you Love?" (about Her) 

I love Her energy, Her wisdom

I love Her emergence, coming out of a cocoon of an idea, a seed of a drawing, taking form, dimension

I love Her PATIENCE with the process, Her Willingness to allow my flow, my process, as I allow her guidance on what's next. 

I love the co-creation. 

I love listening for & discovering different elements as they emerge - Oh! She wants ...

What does she hold in her hand? A globe? A flame? it will become clear ...

Lights, Darks, details, FEATHERS!

Dance - I sketched dancers, tribal dancers, costumes...

The second week we began working with the skin tones, lights & darks on the face, 'cut yourself some slack' (My friend Candy Gordon used to tell me that!) What is she wearing? What colours does she want? 

For my first dark, I used Jenkin's Green, & light: 3 Yellow Ochre, 3 Indian Yellow, 2 Buff Titanium, 5 burnt umber, plus glazing medium ...

And rather than hair - Feathers!! Ooo, what fun, those feathers!

I'm posting to Paint Party Friday!

Mary of Magdalla

Mary, Mary!
She has emerged so beautifully! I'm awestruck and a little In Love with her (OK, a LOT in Love!)

Wee Atelier

When I last posted about her, I was just ready to add her hair ... and then finishing touches, more lights & darks, attention to details ...

In early May I borrowed a table easel from my artist cousin Wendy Thompson, got turquoise paint (Jamaican Sea) for facing wall, & moved a wardrobe that had contained a TV & it's trimmings into my wee dining nook - a space that's about 6' x 7.5'- turning it into my own Atelier, (the Room or studio where an artist creates)

Paint chip

I've been participating in several Facebook Artist Groups, & last week another artist working on her portrait of Mary Magdalene posted a link to a wonderful talk by Ana & Phillip Jones, the leaders of this upcoming (Sept, 2014) The Magdalene, the Grail & You

 I love the words that came to Ana in a dream: "Don't forget Chateau Cantal (sp?) Once a Grail Castle, Always a Grail Castle!"  Places where the Grail has been are vibrationally altered, the spiritual & energetic signature remains.

Added Hair

When Mary came to the South of France, she carried with her various artifacts (there's speculation around what she carried, was the grail a physical cup, or was it Mary's womb a vessel for Christ's Child? Did she have a copy of her gospel? ...) She is the only apostle known to have continued sharing his message,  teaching for 30 years after the crucifiction!

Ana was also given a Grail Riddle - "Forever will you journey, of this there is no doubt. The grail will lead you Inward, Upward & Out." When they visited a cave in Languedoc where Mary gave teachings, they experienced just that - going INto the cave (into ourselves, into the mystery) , then climbing UP a flight of stairs (raising our consciousness to another level) & then OUT (out of our own way, out of preconceptions, false ideals & beliefs)

A pilgrimage is a quest, whether we go physically, or in our dreams, visions, and art! We can each journey Inward, Upward & Out, any time we are ready. Shiloh speaks of our paintings being vessels for healing, healing Icons for both ourselves, in the creation, & for anyone who views them. This feels so true for Mary of Magdalla as she emerges into her shining radiance!

Lady Mary of Magdala

Ana said "Mary TRAVELLED! She didn't just sit around in one place, there are stories throughout Southern France, Languodoc & Provance, of her jourenies, her presence, the sacred objects she carried & her teachings. In the mid 90s while living at the coast, I wrote a story about Mary learning the hands on healing when she was a disciple, & I believe she did.

Through our art and stories, she is still on her healing journey ... I took her to my women's spiritual book group a couple of weeks ago, when I had finished her, & it was lovely to see reactions to her.  Several of the women asked for prints, so I guess that's a future project!

May Mary of Magdalla bless you, & may her Peace & healing presence radiate in & through you.

Beltane and Mary Magdalene

Mary's Altar

Bright Blessings of Beltane (early May)

One of my dad's favorite Easter song was 'In the Garden.'

Composer C. Austin Miles writes: "I seemed to be standing at the entrance to a garden, looking down a gently winding path shaded by olive branches. A woman in white walked slowly into the shadows. It was Mary. As she came to the tomb, she bent over to look in, & leaning her head upon her arm, she wept. Turning herself, she saw Jesus standing beside her: so did I. I knew it was he."

Awakening from his vision that March day in 1912, Miles wrote 'as quickly as the words could be formed the poem exactly as it has come down to us.'

Mary's Portal

My dad & I often sang it at Easter, & I've always loved it. This Easter artist Shiloh Sophia McCloud offered her video painting series on Mary Magdalene for 40 days, at no charge (!) & I signed up!





Mary, Mary!

April 28

I've been working on my painting since Saturday the 26th, and love the process, the painting, all of it!

The "Tea with your Muse' class I took in February was inspired by Shiloh's work, & it's nice to have some experience with her methods. We are part of the 'intentional creativity' movement, taking time to set up an altar, vision, 'listen' to what the painting/subject wants, and say little prayers along the way.

One of the first steps, after writing words of intention on the canvas, is to paint a first layer with 3 colours. Shiloh suggested seven strokes or 7 layers,  the last being the 'portal' for Mary to come through. She bespoke 7 being for 7 veils, or 7 things you want to overcome.
After writing my intention, & painting my layers, I scribed my 6 grandchildren's first initials onto the canvas, (A, E, G, K, K, & Z), plus two Ms for my grandmothers Mary & Minnie!

Over the last 20 years I've read several novels featuring Mary Magdalene, and a few years ago, I discovered Karen King's Gospel of Mary Magdalene at our Public Library. I was fascinated to read the fragments that have come down to us (from 3 different source scrolls, found with some of the other scrolls in Egypt) Mary's gospel appears to have been "well distributed in early Christian times and existed in both an original Greek and a Coptic language translation." The first & second World Wars in the last century interfered with publication until 1955.

work on eyes

The message  Mary of Magdala passed on is simple (& of course the other disciples argued with her, & grumped about HER receiving the message, not them!)

"Peace be with you. Receive my peace unto yourselves.
* Beware that no one lead you astray saying Lo here or lo there! For the Son of Man is within you.
* Follow after Him!  Those who seek Him will find Him.
* Go then and preach the gospel of the Kingdom.
* Do not lay down any rules beyond what I appointed you, and do not give a law like the lawgiver lest you be constrained by it."

 I'm using a bigger canvas, 18 X 24", & Shiloh's suggested pallet of colours, mostly Golden brand (some fluid, some in tubes). I've been paying visits to the local art shop, & the first round were on sale!

More layers on the face 4-30

Last weekend was also a parting, as our sweet inclusive 'peace & justice' church's Senior Pastor & his wife
are moving across the country to Beverly Mass, where he will minister to a different congregation. Many emotions are flowing, so it seems timely to be working on Mary!

There are several video segments left to watch, & am intrigued that in this class (the first directly from Shiloh that I've followed) we haven't added hair yet! (that's next! It's fun to just try things, & see how they turn out! I'm looking forward to my friend Elisabeth's return from Kansas, & painting together again.

I am working on doing whatever Shiloh suggests, adding layers of colour and reworking lines, glazing both the whole canvas & in certain areas, colour suggestions; AND getting lost in the process & in Mary!

So she's still a Work in Process, but getting close to completion!

I'm posting in Paint Party Friday & to the Red Thread Cafe.

Music & Waves

Lior and the Sea, Blessings of the Grandmothers

This week I pulled out several songs I wrote for the folk harp, & reworked them a bit. I studied piano with a lovely teacher, who taught me to write out music, & we studied a good bit of theory.
Today another harper visited. He is interested in ordering a harp like of mine from a luthier across the country, so he stopped by to play for awhile, which was fun for my harps & me!

When my middle granddaugher drops by to paint, I wanted some simple surfaces for her.

Lady of Wind & Waves

I put gesso on on several 5 x 8" pieces of matt board I'd picked up for Collage.

They are perfect for small pics, so I did one as well. I began with acrylics, & finished with oil pastel, using copper paint for the necklace & earrings.

I'm linking to Paint Party Friday! Enjoy!