Glazing and Repurposing

When I took that first Muse class in 2014, I was having a good time with ceremony, visioning, painting and journaling, ...

Then Elisabeth told us we were going to paint over our canvas with a Risky Glaze - ¿paint over? ¿glaze? Yikes!! 

She demonstrated, choosing translucent paint, and some water,  spritzing the canvas, then applying with a big brush, then rubbing it with a square of old T-shirt, to burnish ...well, that wasn't so bad! And it did integrate the different colours. Now, it's one of my favorite processes!

Recently,  new painters in our Red Thread Creatives group have asked about preparing new raw canvas, and about repurposing our own or thrift store canvases. 

For a new raw canvas, you'll need to apply several layers of gesso, give plenty of drying time, and sand between layers. You can also prepare wood panels.

When I'm reclaiming or repurposing, I generally use a glaze rather than gesso! 

Good Medicine - 2019

Glaze to reclaim a canvas: 

• If you're revisiting a canvas after a time, a lite glaze is a good way to reclaim it.
• When you're called to continue, pull out your journal notes about your painting
• Light a candle and pour a cup of tea
• Sit back about 6' and return to the initial visioning and inquiry.
• Ask yourself What attracted you to this subject  or class in the first place? What's shifted since you last painted? What insight is arising?
• Are you drawn to continue, or start something new? 
• Spend some time with your intention,  and write it on your canvas/in your journal. 
• Get fresh water, and perhaps reset your altar

• Glazing can be scary, and is so potent!! It is a great way to integrate what has gone before, and is a key component of our process with Intentional Creativity. It is also a simple way to add Mothercolour 
• Use a transparent color - Golden's Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold or Transparent Red Iron Oxide are some favorites! 
• What's gone before and each new layer adds depth.
• Want to gesso? Consider choosing a transparent color, watering it down a bit, use a big brush and cover the canvas with a layer of glaze! How does that feel?  Write about your process!
• Translucent Golden Fluids work great for glazing - you can lay it flat to glaze and dry, and perhaps use a piece of T-shirt, to rub and "burnish" the canvas. ... 
• Then, you guessed it! 
• Sit back with your journal, and write about what's being integrated! 

Glaze options:

• Partial glaze, use one color on half the canvas, and another on the other half. Smudge the line between the two, burnish if you wish.
• 4 directions: choose 4 transparent colors. Spritz the canvas with water, then use the first color along the top, spritz again and let it drip ...rotate the canvas, spritz and use the next color ... Spray, paint, play with the drips. Turn the canvas again ... 
• White!! If you REALLY want to gesso the whole thing, try spritzing the canvas, choose a direction, paint white along the "top", spray again and let it drip! Or use white on the area you "don't like" and spray it, let it drip ...
• Gold! Our inner Critics are easily distracted by shiny objects! Spray the canvas, and use splashes of gold or another metallic in a few areas!

                              Thrift store pansy

Repurposing a canvas

• I love finding a large canvas at the thrift store, and reclaiming it! 
• When I get it home, I spritz it with water (often with flower essences) and wipe it down, and use Palo Santa or cedar to smudge it. 
• A bit of salt in a bowl of water, and damp washcloth are another option for cleansing and clearing.
• If there's a lot of texture, I might lightly sand that area, and dust off with a dry cloth.

• When you're ready to glaze, consider the colors already there, and your approach. 
• Bless the canvas, and pull out your journal, to write and sketch
• Write your intention on the Canvas (I use Neocolor 2)

Some examples:

• A painting of a spaniel was white and gold, with very dark eyes, I painted white over the eyes, and perhaps glazed the whole piece with Quinacridone nickel Azo Gold. There was a lot of light texture, which added interest to my painting!. 
• On the big pansy - mostly dark purple, I added more purple around it, and to the white triangle in the center. 
• I might do partial glasses, or a 4 directions glaze on a more random piece

  Pansy - after several layers

This became "Good Medicine"

Do you have favorite ways to repurpose canvases? 

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Magic in vessels

 During this spring of our time as Artists in Residence, our Intentional Creativity® teacher Shiloh and her husband Jonathan decided to offer their transformational APOTHECARY (online) class over the month of April. 

This is my third time in the workshop, which is designed to transform tragedies to remedies through painting journaling, and my second round as one of the online support team. I'll be certified to offer Apothecary for my community, at the conclusion of this round.

Posts on my paintings and process during the First year and here, second year and here

APOTHECARY - Compass and biophotons

This class was inspired by Jonathan's own journey, finding healing from PTSD through creativity, moving from "Distress ... to Discomfort."  They offered APOTHECARY Medicine Painting as an in person workshop in the states and Australia before translating it into an online offering. 

• Shiloh and Jonathan encourage participants to choose just a few old stories which block their lives now, and not dwell on the pain, but move toward the translation to healing.
• The emphasis is on process, rather than finished product (Though that is usually satisfying as well!) 
• Intentional Creativity® is an approach to creating "which yeilds greater access to who we are now, who we are becoming, and what is possible for us in our unfolding future."
• Utilising our inherent creativity offers a wonderful opportunity for clearing old baggage and facilitates lasting change.

Apothecary participants are encouraged to have their own support system, and if working with a therapist, to keep them in the loop! Decades ago, my massage mentor  Jeanne bespoke working through layers like peeling an onion, a few at a time, which is more manageable with both physical and emotional pains. 

Flower allies

This year we used the videos filmed in 2019, supported throughout each week by a team of Guild members who took Apothecary previously, and  interacting during 4 Zoom calls. The paintings this year are so rich, and participants are invited to share insights and breakthroughs in our private online group and on the calls.

Yesterday, my kitty Percy brought a snake inside - 
I scolded him, and took it back outside - and decided it was one of my vessels!  ... During our legendary journey earlier in the year, we made Ally cards as a journaling exercise, and one of the animal totems was snake ... The medicine: "coilng around what is needed, letting go of what is ready to be released." 
(A dragon showed up on my 'Legend' canvas - which I'm in love with!) 

Legend 2020 - Raven's Beauty

Other vessels are a mortar and pestle, and Oracle cards for medicine teachings, and the pine needle basket a vessel for abundance of resources and financials.
The vessels are blocked in, ready for the remedies to bubble and shift...

APOTHECARY vessels

I look forward to adding details and symbols, as the remedies evolve, and seeing my classmates' medicine emerging.

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Sedna of the Northern Sea

What times we are living in! And even with lots of time, I've found my creative juices don't always flow. I'm tending several online class in our community, including this year's teachers training, and enjoy our new private App , iMUSEA, for delivery.

My Australian friend and color of Woman teacher Tania McGinnis decided to offer prompts in her Heart Speak group on Facebook - a journey to paint Sedna, the Inuit sea goddess. We're beginning with a stone cairn (I'm using a canvas I began for another painting)

Stone Cairn

In the stories about Sedna, she has a hard time choosing a husband from those who court her, and finally decides to marry a handsome stranger... He takes her to his island home, and reveals that he is Raven!

Her father comes for a visit, and decides to take her back to their home ... 

But a storm comes up, perhaps Raven's friends in protest ... And Sedna falls overboard ... 

In his fright, her father won't let her back in In the boat, and stikes her hands with his oar ... Her fingers become seals, whales, walruses, and all the creators of the sea, and Sedna herself the sea goddess, providing bounty. 

In 2003, a planet with an egg shaped orbit of 11,500 years (!) was discovered and named after Sedna. (# 90377) Astrologer Heather Ensworth offers this version of Sedna's story,  how the planetary orbit impacts earth's story, and her role as a guide through this Transition.

And here is a rare interview with visionary and astrologer Barbara Hand Clow on these times we're experiencing - she mentions Sedna toward the end of the session. I've enjoyed Barbara's books on astrology and our transition times for 30+ years, and was excited to find this. 

Apothecary in process

Over the last month, I've been participating in some wonderful online classes and circles, plus spending time with my daughter and her family. I grateful for the connections, and inspiration.

My friend Sherry Rueger Banaka and I will offer an online Red Thread session on April 27th  on Resilience and Healing. We will include a simple creative practice, and an EFT tapping sequence. I've needed to cancel my in person monthly circle, so it will be nice to get together via Zoom! (Let me know if you'd like to join us!) 

Stay safe and enjoy your creative time! 
Happy Paint Party Friday!

Cross pollination

As I spend time in my little Atelier, I'm embodying how each painting informs others in I'm working on! The reverse stencil technique and landscape background from Treesister came into play as I was brewing remedies in the apothecary yesterday. 

Apothecary - Good Medicine

As I looked at my journal notes from last year's Apothecary, In the Still Room, I realized several symbols had showed up in my CODEX painting as it evolves, the Hamsa hand, the 7 Pointed fairy star, and of course the harps in Apothecary and CODEX! 

Vision Plan Book

Part of our CODEX journey, and intentional Creativity, is to attend to these common elements and symbols, as we engage our intuition and inner knowing. 

CODEX - in process

What common elements do you find in your work? 
Happy Paint Party Friday!

Codes and Codecies

 I've been in the Atelier this week, which also marked my birthday! This time last week, I was in the mountains with my daughter's family and our friend Monika with her younger kids - a wonderful end of summer camping trip before the kids headed back to school. Then we made a visit to the ocean for sun on the beach, and several yummy BD meals ...

The Apothecary journey was again powerful, and it was an honor to hold space in the virtual classroom with several SiStars, as we watched the work unfold. My vessels are bubbling away... More to come! My friend Sherry and I intend to offer an in person event within the next few months.

Apothecary Medicine Painting

Last fall our intentional creativity community began a 13 Moon painting journey called CODEX, which began with journal prompts and a big canvas. After "awhile" away, I brought mine back to the easel yesterday, brought in more symbols and energy codes. 

Do you get distracted, and wonder where the time went? Guilty! But "there's no behind," ... Just different process! 
I've been shepherding a group of SiStars on the Color of Woman journey In years past, who are in "Muse Time" as they compete their quests, and am so pleased that several have competed their initiate books, and graduated from the training! 

CODEX - in process

I've begun doing more coaching, and a few weeks ago I had an individual painting session with a nearby SiStar. We were both pleased with our inspiring time together. I love this process of each doing our own work, and bring forth our own symbols and images! Our session was only 4 hours, and I've spent more time with mine since.

My Demo 

Muse of Creativity

My friend Margot and I are planning our fall workshop in her studio, set for the second weekend in November. I'd love and SiStars in Oregon to join us! 

What's in your cup, and on your easel? 
Happy Paint Party Friday!

Apothecary 2019

Our painting community is embarking on another journey into the alchemical plan of the Apothecarian, with around 100 from around the globe using the process of inquiry, journaling and paint to transform tragedies into remedies. 

This will be the 5th time Shiloh and Jonathan teach Apothecary, and is the second online version. (You can read about last year's journey here)  Our art journal prompts come from the wonderful Jenafer Joy, and are awesome as usual. The process itself has been put in the crucible, and is being distilled for IC teachers to offer our own versions of Apothecary to local students.

I am one of the gals witnessing and offering support in our online classroom, and am working

Altar holding space

this morning to get my space ready. For more than a year, I've been "in process" with moving my studio from my dinning nook to part of my living room, about time I finished that project, don't you think??!! (Where does the time go?)

Yesterday we opened the Apothecary class with a Zoom session - this is such a great way to connect with community! 
Shiloh invited us to do a couple of "pen and paper" exercises, identifying one old story that was coming up - draw a representation of it, then find and draw an antidote. 

These processes are so accessible, and are one of the tools I use in my coaching practice. Mine was around feeling I need to do it all myself - the antidote is the triple spiral of connection/ interdependence! 

Journal process

Time to get back to the clearing and shifting of the Atelier! 

Happy Paint Party Friday! 

Still Room Revisited

In a week, the new gallery MECA will be opening, and all of us are excited to see our art on the shelves and walls! During my last visit, Holli asked if I had any pieces in addition to the "ladies" I might want to show? 
I mentioned my Apothecary painting... "send me a photo!" So I did, and she wants it! 

Paintings have their own processes and time frames, don't they? The Apothecary process focuses on distilling tragedies, turning them into potions and remedies. It is a wonderful, rich, and sometimes intense process! You can share parts of my journey here, here and the request for some new items here. 

Some of the requested items were shelves, more Nick Nacks an Alembic Still, and some "real" additions. Shiloh invited us to stitch some red thread or ribbon into the canvas, and I haven't yet...

.. 

Last spring, I added some shelves, carving (gel), and sketched in the still, .... and then went on to other projects, while the potions bubbled away ...

Now  a still requires heat, and there is a Red dragon in the area, so she kindly volunteered to keep the pot bubbling when necessary! I've sketched her in, also a water dragon peeking into the vessel on the far right (I realized only three dragons were showing!)

At this point when revisiting a canvas, I often do a glaze, (full or partial, choosing transparent colours) to get back in touch with my process, and pull out my journal for some current inquiries ...

Sketched in - Red Dragon & Alembic Still

I've begun painting and adding more details to the still and Red dragon 

What's your creative process today?

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Alembic Still and red dragon

In the Still Room

It's been a lovely, busy week. I played harp for a wonderful new moon meditation circle Sunday morning (Mother's Day), in a sweet rural setting, and nice weather, so we were outside. I got to stay for brunch under the trees, and later in the day had time with my kids and the local Grands.

This week I was puttering in the Apothecary, framing shelves, partial glazes, ...And feeling close to completion, .... 
Now, the Muse wants:

Apothecary

• Gel for "carvings" on the shelves
• An Alembic still (! - She saw one on another painting, and has to have one!) 

  

  Alembic still

• A button box, full of family treasures - did you have a button box? I could spend hours with my mom's! 
• Real items: key and leaded Crystal, a knob for beads and a pouch to hang from (apple burl, from an artist friend) and buttons from the family box for knobs on the drawers
• a few more Nick-Nacks, perhaps an amethyst cluster, little statue, dropper bottles ....
• Titles on the books (far right)

Because the canvas is angled, I plan to add a hazel branch above the narrow end (right half), ... apparently it will be wrapped with Red Thread from circles led and classes taught, and the key and lead Crystal will hang from it ...

I used my editing feature to sketch in some of the ideas she has for me, ... I'd glazed the star

violet, ... that seems the perfect place for the still! And life the other dragons, Scarlett will peek out, ...

An early layer was a rich "compost" glaze, that seems in order over the star...

Happy Paint Party Friday! 

What tasks has your Muse set you?

Creativi-tea Time

This week I had tea with SiStars from around the globe with my RT friend Denise Daffera and the Purple Ink café, via Zoom technology! I was at my daughter's, so used a sweet teacup my granddaughter KK received from her friend Gabby, when she went over for a sleepover. Bone China, with a lilies of the valley pattern, it reminded me of having tea with my mom! Like Denise, I grew up sipping tea and sharing stories with mom. When I was a teen, she encouraged me to collect bone China teacups when we traveled. These days, I often use a handthrown cup, and have several to choose from.

As women shared their tea cups, and memories of other tea parties, I remembered when my

Cup from Elaine W

massage mentor introduced me to an older German woman, who needed in-home sessions. I would bring my (heavy!) table, and after the session, she began inviting me to stay for tea, which included some fresh baked goodie.... 
When Helen requested I come twice a week, I told her I could come do massage two times, but not do "tea party" both days!! We would drop into a mix of English with some German words, and I loved hearing parts of her story.

We always had herbs in our garden, and when my kids were young, Michael and I would gather our own favorites for Monday night tea blends. He loved sage, I prefered Lemon balm, and a sweeter brew. We had a wonderful black English peppermint from his elderly friend who lived in the house "my" gallery, 10 Oaks, now occupies. 
Like my folks, we liked using local honey, and would use a bit in our brews. Sage or ginger and honey we favorites got sore throats, and in the late 80s, I took an herb class to learn more medicinal uses. Our local friends Melanie and Andy Van Hevlingen grow some of our favorite herbs.

During my years at the mountain hot springs retreat, Breitenbush, several co-workers loved tea and tea ceremonies. Rosa was born in England, and Gwynne had studied at the Guild theatre school in London. I'd often be invited over for elevenses, with tea served from a pot, and perhaps jam on a biscuit or bread from the kitchen. I was happy to discover a coconut black tea at our local Velvet Monkey tea room, similar to the one from a London tea shop. At Christmas, Jamshed would host a well attended high tea with poetry, in the lodge with a fire burning. 

One housemate, Ray from the kitchen team, was an expert at simmering the spices and making fresh Chai. Like the little Red Hen, he encouraged Emily and me to make it sometimes, but no, we wanted his brew, and would patiently wait for our chai.

For our Red Thread Circles, we often brew tea in a pot, along with small oranges, nuts, chocolate, for help washing and clearing emotions raised as old stories are processed. We have a collection of tea cups, and teas, as well as tea in bags for individual use. A teapot appeasers in many of our Apothecary paintings, brewing new stories.

What favorite memories of tea and tea parties do you have?

Happy Paint Party Friday! 

Alchemy and PRISMs

The last month or so our Intentional Creativity community has been busy brewing potions in the Apothecary, trudging "tragedies into remedies" through the alchemical painting process. With IC, we often bring old stories conscious, and then using creativity to shift the old pain into remedies, which we can draw on when someone has a similar experience, but no longer need to carry in our bodies, or even our fields. This. is. huge.

Bezoar

For many of us, there are old stories of being left out, less than, not important. There may be stories of abuse, receiving unwanted attention, making "bad" choices, and collective stories of persecution for having the "wrong" beliefs. Students come to our art circles with stories of "not being creative," often because some authority told them they weren't, decades before!

These old stories go into the pots, ingredients are added, and healing elixirs are distilled, remedies labeled, and lovingly placed on the shelves. Labels are added as we identify these Remedies.

Bezoar in dark blue container

We did some of our process in journals, led by the wonderful Jenafer Joy.  You may recall my Bezoar from my last post, which, pearl-like, forms around an undigestible object (often hair) in the stomach or intestine of an animal. Harry Potter fans will remember this as a universal antidote to any poison! Quite handy to have in the Apothecary! 
My potions are still brewing, I love the bubbles rising from the goblet, old vows which no longer serve have been rewritten...

I took the canvas to our open studio last weekend.... It's repurposed, and I didn't notice 'till I'd been painting awhile that it's wider on the Left (20", only 18" on the Right!) It was home stretched, and meant to hang vertically!  
So, part of the medicine is adding ribbons and ornaments, I've got a hazel branch that will be integrated above the Right side! And the Perfection Queen just needs to stand down! 

Apothecary

Shiloh and Jonathan are currently on an Australian teaching tour, and are offering PRISM in Melbourne. This is a wonderful glimpse into how art dovetails with quantum physics and reality, and changes we make on the canvas can ripple out into our lives and the world. 
This will be offered online, and registration for this year's virtual PRISM training is now open. I took this class in 2016, and look forward to being an online Hearth Tender again, and to see what appears on my canvas. 

What's on your easel? Happy PPF!

PRISM -2016 (In process)

Apothecary containers

 Our Intentional Creativity community is working with a painting process Shiloh and Jonathan are calling Apothecary Medicine Painting. This includes distilling old stories and tragedies, to  transform them into Remedies. 

Jonathan served as a military EMT, parachuting from a helicopter to provide first aid, the traumas he was involved with led to PTSD, which creative processes (he's a chef and poet) helped him transform those old traumas. 

With this process, we each have been spending time pulling our some of the stories, to distill down into antidotes. 
I'm beginning to put my symbols on the vessels, and write the prescriptions.

Vessels in my Apothecary

Our journey began March 31, and in addition to the painting process, identifying traumas, and discovering antidotes, Jenafer Owen has been offering a daily journal prompt. I love her method of writing with watercolor pencils, then adding collage, and activating /transforming the words with water!

Alchemical jars - we wrote, drew jars in Sharpe, and choose images that appealed for five remedies. 

Elements

I adapted this for our Red Thread Circle last night, dividing a sheet of Mixed Media paper into four segments, journaling about an element in each (earth, air, fire and water) and choosing magazine images for each element. 
This was a good warm up for our next class, in a week, my cohort Sepha and I will invite our students to connect with the elements as they paint "Gaia as a Portal"  

Bezoar

Bezoar - Harry Potter fans will recognize this ancient universal poison remedy. An "indigestable" irritant in an animal's stomach or intestine (hair, etc) is transformed into a solid mass, a Bezoar. 
We drew a winding form in our journal, connecting the end with the start of the line; and used watercolor pencil to write about the "irritant" bellow the line. Then choose another color to write the insight, and skills learned from it. Last, use a brush and water to activate the alchemy. 

The next step is to add the Bezoar to one of the medicine containing vessels on our canvas, with the same colors. It looks rather flower-like, doesn't it?

This morning's prompt was to use a 'Random item Generator' to give us several items pertinent to our alchemical journey! Mine were rubber gloves, masking tape, a snow globe, and a plush bear. I've been drawing and painting with my Grands, home on an inservice day. I used blue painting tape, for painting my Atelier, the gloves allow me to "dig in" 

I asked the kids for ideas for the show globe, and when Z-man suggested Santa, I

remembered the Herstory of a Sun Goddess crossing the sky in a chariot pulled by a reindeer. She flies on Winter Solstice, spinning the sun's rays, and dropping Amber (from her tears) and apples! 

I discovered parts of this story when I was painting the Celtic lady, Elen Star-Path. So I brought the Latvian Saule into my globe! My middle granddaughter suggested the word JOY.

Mr grandkids have been enjoying playing with watercolor and Inktense pencils as well, and seeing what happens when they activate then.

What's on your easel or table? 

Happy paint party Friday!