Vivid - Legend 2020

In the invitation to the newest Legend course, Shiloh Sophia invites us to examine what we are harvesting and what we've learned in 2020. In a bold move, she is offering Intentional Creativity® teachers the opportunity, after completing Vivid, to be licensed to offer this signature course to prospective students! 

As Shiloh began teaching the process we've come to know as Intentional Creativity, one of the first steps was a journey to reconnect with our Legendary Self in a several month course that includes journaling, visioning and painting. As the prerequisite for the Color of Woman teacher training, I first painted my legendary lady, Shanden'eah Star Path in 2105. 

Before taking Legend, I had the opportunity to take several local IC classes, from Elisabeth Friese-Mick and Heidi Moondancer; plus two online from graduates Flora Adobe and Jassy Watson. It was invaluable to have these in-person and small group experiences as a foundation for the course, and benefit from different teaching styles! And though I could include them in my initiate book, they didn't "count" toward the course.

Shanden'eah Star Path - 2015

Earlier this year, I again had the opportunity to paint Legend in the Oracle and Ally, and to help tend their online classroom. As in other years, some of the students began their IC journey in my classes. I'm excited at the prospect of offering the prerequisite course, both in person and virtually! 

Here are some of the students, and part of their stories: 

While I was still in Color of Woman, my friend Sepha Nisbet invited me to tea, to pick my brain about CoW. Long identifing as an artist, Sepha has taught watercolor, clay, and was offering Paint Night parties - but longed for the depth of creating with intention! She took my first Muse class and shared great practical suggestions for setting up and flow, and always asks the best questions! 

Sepha graduated from CoW 2016, and we co-facilitated many circles and classes before she took to the Road as a Travelling Artist. 

When it came time for Sepha to offer her 13 step class, Christy Cozby was one of the students, and I played harp and assisted. Christy came to another of our classes a couple of years later, then enrolled in CoW 2020, and will graduate November 1! 

I felt I'd come full circle to take Christy's 13 step class, Princess Silver Hands last month, virtually! I am so pleased with this small canvas and transformed princess! 

Linda Allen & Angie Delaplain began coming to classes from several hours away, both in McMinnville and at my friend Margot's in Corvallis, before deciding to enroll in Color of Woman! Linda competed the Red Thread Circle Guide program first, then decided to take the plunge and do CoW. They both took my spring 2019 class, Embracing Mother Gaia just before their CoW Quest began. 

They graduated fall of 2019, and Linda took the 2020 Cosmic Smashbook course, with founder Catt Geller! Linda co-facilitates most of my virtual Red Thread Circle, and has led several, Angie will lead her first this week! 

Another student in the Gaia class, Carol Fairbanks, has taken at least 4 classes with me, and attended numerous circles. An older student (78) Carol also has extensive art experience, and her paintings are phenomenal. She has taught paining and yoga, and is a dedicated environmentalist. She took my Harvest Queen and Wonder Woman classes last fall, shortly before enrolling in CoW 2020.

She chose Harvest Queen as the theme for her virtual class, which I also attended, and offered one of her other events via our RT Circle. She is graduating Nov 1 as well. 

Carol at Harvest Queen - 2019

In the summer of 2017, my friend Glenda's sister Sherry Rueger Banaka and I chatted on the way to Glenda's book reading, and the next week, Sherry contacted Shiloh for early enrollment! 

Sepha was one of the Art Doctors for Legend 2018, and with our local friends Sherry, Angie and Rema in the class, we decided to offer an open studio for those finishing recent paintings or in Legend. Gals loaded paint, brushes, and their big canvases in their cars to join us. Sherry graduated in 2018, and last fall we co-facilitated Grief to Gratitude. 

Sherry, Nadya, Rema and Angie 2018

Rema Tillet began coming to Red Thread circles several years ago, graduated from the Cosmic Smashbook training, offered by CoW graduate Catt Geller.

My cousin Leah Hankins has been a steady attendee of the Red Thread Circles, and also took Harvest Queen - she completed the Red Thread Guide certification in the summer, and I look forward to her presence and facilitating local circles soon!

 

I found it invaluable to have had in-person experiences as a foundation for the training, and have gotten wonderful feedback from the students who have gone on to take trainings themselves. There's a benefit from smaller classes, and experiencing different teaching styles! I am delighted at the opportunity for graduates of Color of Woman to "refresh" with Legend, and have the opportunity to be licensed to teach MYSTIC! 

 

    

Oracle and Ally - Legendary Journey and Glow

As Shiloh began teaching the process we've come to know as Intentional Creativity, one of the first steps has been a journey to reconnect with our Legendary Self in a several week class  that includes journaling, visioning and painting. As the prerequisite for the Color of Woman teacher training, over 120 women are in our virtual classroom this year. Nearly half of those will go on to join the teacher training in March.

From the first splashes of color and journal entries, the stories begin to flow and images emerge. Much of the legendary journey involves delving into the stories that shaped us, turning into the compost that will nourish our growth. And at times, sparks and speckles of white paint, dancing stars and biophotons...

Legend and Ally

Layers build, on the canvas, in the journals. Sketches, messages from the Oracle via our painting, glimpses of allies and receiving their messages ... 
We knock on the doorway, and seek admittance to the world of our Legendary Selves. My first Legend in 2015 was Snande'nea Star Gate, and was the largest canvas I'd worked on - yikes! 

Sherry, Nadya, Rema and Angie (with Sherry's Legend)

In 2018 we hosted an open studio during the Legendary online journey, gals from around the state who had been painting in their own studios loaded paint, brushes, and thrir big canvases in their cars to join us. Several others came with smaller paintings, done in one of our classes. 

Three of those who brought their Legends are now teaching IC (Sherry and Angie) or Cosmic Smashbooking (Rema). I brought the legendary lady I'd begun the year before, with the class of 2017. 

Sherry at our fall class at MECA

After several layers (Golden Fluid acrylics, acrylic ink) journaling and sketching, this big dragon appeared in the patterns, is peeking through the portal ...

Legendary portal - 2020

Which then shifted again ...with a layer of milky white - sprayed and dripping - bringing in more light

Milky integration

And was finally ready for the forms to emerge

Sketch on canvas

Blocked in, time to listen

We are opening,
Connection integration
In the unfolding

Oracle's wisdom
The dance of critic and Muse
Finding a balance

As we paint, we Try to preserve the Glow, the "steady radiance of light" a bit of the background, shining in one side of the defining lines... 

This bit of light reminds us that we are all "cooling sacks of stardust," and actually, we emit a bit of life-light, biophotons in the ultraviolet range! 

Though I did the original sketch in brown, I highlighted the outlines in white, bringing back some of that glow.
This is perhaps the first time the sisters are introduced to the concept of bringing the Glow into their paintings, it will thread through future canvases and classes, bringing more vitality and interest.
There are many layers still to come on our journey to meet our Legendary lady's Oracle and Allies. Who else will emerge, and what messages will they bring?

Do you receive messages from your paintings/ drawings? 

Happy Paint Party Friday and Rain's Garden Thursday Art Date - Glow

Painting with Intention

Intentional Creativity® offers an approach to painting (and other creative projects) where we set our intention at the beginning, and follow our curiosity, using inquiries and letting the brush lead. It is a way to activate Breakthrough, without Breakdown, to attune to  inner guidance and own images. It can also be a powerful mindfulness process. As we paint dots, dashes and other repetitive patterns, we move into a flow state. 
Changes occur in the electromagnetic field around us, when receive from the unmanifest, and bring that information through the portal, into our painting. 

We begin with a theme, often choosing an archetype to provide a framework and images for our painting.

• How do we connect with our Muse of Creativity, or lead a more Legendary Life? 
• What are our Super powers? 
• What gifts sand talents are in our medicine baskets?

While the themes, and archetypes are limitless, we are encouraged to choose one that lights us up, or has us "shaking in our boots!"

Siren Song 

Whether working on our own, or teaching a class, I use a step-by step method designed to foster insights and inner access. Founder Shiloh Sophia writes, "There's something sacred about the container, about the formula holding you, that allows for freedom to emerge. You are going to create an intuitive painting, from the heart of your own self. You'll learn to use your visionary lens for Active Imagination to connect with the light and spaciousness of your own sovereignty."

We usually begin with a visioning, a guided Meditation focused around the archetype it theme of the painting. Everyone has their own paths of access, so while some may receive visual images, another will "hear" something, and yet another may have a more tactile experience, including the hint of a scent. 
There's no "right or wrong" way! Even if you feel you didn't "get" anything, as we spend time with our Journal and canvas, images and symbols emerge. The painting become our visionary Portal.

Juju Journal · One of the keys to the intuitive painting process is moving back and forth between the canvas and our Journal. Using image and inquiry, we follow the thread of the story we are weaving, and access information we didn't know we knew. This practice of asking for information and allowing images to emerge helps is transform old stories, and gives us more bandwidth for good juju.

As we move through the steps, we build upon previous layers. Something you loved may later get lost, to, perhaps, re-emerge later, like a dear friend, well-met after years apart! So we remind ourselves, don't get attached! (And take photos!) 
With our inquiries, we note where something similar happens in daily life, hmm... and may ask, 'how does our guide receive information?' 'What symbols does she have?' 'What are some of the trials and dangers faced?' 'How does she overcome them?' 'What weakness is she ready to transform?'

Student painting - in progress

Partway through, we send our lady into the mist with a risky glaze, spraying the canvas with water, and using a big brush and diluted transparent color to unify the painting, and send her into the Fog! I wrote about glaze options in my last post, and additional glazes adds depth and luminosity. This is a great time for journaling, exploring what is going behind the glaze and getting lost, what is coming through? How does she want to re-emerge?

Step by step, we journey to the heart and soul of our lady, to our own heart and soul! Sometimes we get discouraged - have I lost her?? ... Ah, no, there she is! Lose her, find her, lose her! ... This dance may occur several times, as we move towards completion. Confused about what's next?
Ask her.
Listen. Record ...
Bring in more light, illuminate - we're *cooling sacks of stardust* - the light beams from within! 

At some point - during the Workshop or later, as we feel compete,  we sit back at least 6' and hand her the pen. This is a time of inviting information, her statement, perhaps a poem. There may be a message about the next mission, insight into an old story, a recurring roadblock, codes, secret language, a lexicon of symbols...

And even after we'd done this "final step," ... We may get called back to the canvas (often years later!!) Because she wants something else! ... 
And if we're listening, we come!  

Insights and Legends

Summer in the Northern Hemisphere is passing way too quickly! I've enjoyed several summer adventures, HS and family reunions, camping at the County fair with my son and

Statue of Amanda

his kids, while they showed their horses and chickens, and at the beach with our church family. Last weekend a galfriend and I attended a wonderful play my cousin Connie Bennett wrote about tune Oregon Trail of Tears, Amanda Transcending - wow! 

Days are beginning to get shorter, and today my 18 year old granddaughter moves into her dorm room (half a mile from home!) for an intro week before school begins. 

As my grandkids prepare for school, the does are also opening for the 2019 Color of Woman teacher training, with a four week introductory class called INSIGHT! (And it's Free!) 
Shiloh Sophia sets such a welcoming table, and the invitation is open to women around the globe with a desire to be more present, and live their Legendary Life. 

Are you one who has considered answering the call? You are invited!
 Lo'oet Firekeeper reminds you to connect with the creative fire in your own soul, and share the fire with others. Here's a creativity exercise to  play with - Happy PPF!

Firekeeper

We are Legendary

For the past 10 years, Maestra Shiloh Sophia and her sidekicks Jena and Stella Mac have led a group of amazing women on a journey to discover their own Legend, and discoverong what it means to lead Legendary Lives. This course is the prerequisite for the annual Color of Woman teacher quest'
Several local RT SiStars are enrolled with over 115 others in this year's Legend. One will be going on to CoW 2018, and another is enrolled in the new Red Thread Guide course. In March, we'll host an open studio for them to paint together!

When I registered for Legend in 2015, I intended to do CoW sometime later,... But then Shiiloh opened a few more slots, and (gulp!) I was on the quest! Each year, a new group of women journal and paint their way out of old stories, and discover new pathways. We vision our symbols, and see where they fit, support each other through laughter and tears, and embracing new ah-has.

Color and shapes from earlier layers peek through, each building on the last, as our lives build on the stories of our families, and herstory, we sift through for those which inform our choices. What are we building on? Where is the foundation solid? Where does it require digging out and shoring up?

When I embarked on my Legendary journey, I gathered flower essences for a bouquet of support: Lady's Slipper Orchid for stepping out in joy, Star of Bethlehem for lighting the pathway, ... Symbols came, a dragon, dancing maid, a key in the heart of the labyrinth ...and my legend, Shande'nea Star Gate was birthed. (Read a bout her symbols and the journey here)

Shande'nea Star Gate

How can you doubt your Soul Purpose?
You were born for this!
You hold a gift, a treasure, 
a King's ransome that is such a blessing for your companions

Arise and Shine!
Do not worry, consider the liles of the field - you are blessed beyond measure
It is time for you to SHARE those blessings
The time you spend in Circle hones you for the Next Steps

Will you step through the gateway?
The dragons know the way, and hold the keys
Open your eyes and ears: see and hear
Make way for the Messages to flow
To glow and mark the spiral path

Breath with new breath
The sweetness of the journey
As you Dance Through the Stargate

Last year I participated in the journey in paint and story, holding space for the exploration. As our sistars embark on Legend 2018, my classmate Kendall Scott has assembled Legends from the SiStarhood for a Legendary SlideShow. Shande'nea is there with many others, gateways to our personal Legendary Lives!

Legend 2017

Two years ago, I joined Maestra Shiloh Sophia and a group of our SiStars as we embarked on a journey around the inquiry "what does it mean to live a Legendary Life? Legend is Shiloh's core course for women drawn to the 9 month Color of Woman quest and teacher training. After painting my Legend Shande'nea, I went on to join the quest, and graduated from Color of Woman, at the end of 2015.

Shande'nea© 2015

Shiloh revisits this core course periodically, and this weekend we are beginning another Legendary round. The theme this spring is "She's a Piece of Work!" (Have you ever been told that?!) Yes you are: a masterpiece, a legend, a wise woman!  
This year's quest includes painting a self portrait (lots of women artists have!) Writing your legendary story, creating a chapbook with Shiloh's mama, the poet Caron McCloud, and lots of juicy journaling and painting.

I'm excited that CoW graduate and Guild Member Jassy Watson from AU will be in the studio painting with Shiloh! I took Jassy's e-course to Paint Gaia in 2014, Ooo, was that fun!  She will also be Shiloh's guest this Friday's on Power Creatives TV, season 2. 
For our legendary journey, Mary McDonald and Jenafer Joy will be on board with writing prompts, painting and sweet support. The course is offered both in person at Musea Sophia in Sonoma CA, and online. 

Lady Gaia© 2014

I'm thrilled to be on the virtual support team, painting along with this weekend's Livestream, and connecting with the Legendary group via Facebook and group calls over the next three months. (The painting videos will be available through the end of the year, so those joining will have lots of time to complete.) I'm resetting my altar, and getting out my Legendary Essence from the last voyage.

I need to prepare my painting panel with a coat of GAC and then gesso. During the Color of Woman training I painted two of my ladies, Taliswoman: Songs of Light; and Alchemist: Firekeeper, on Birch panels, and love working on that surface. 
My son-in love Matt was a great help, attaching the cradle board onto the backs of birch plywood from Lowe's! This was quite cost effective, but we don't have time to craft panels this time. 
I'd love to have you join us; Happy Paint Party Friday!

Legendary

A year ago, I painted my Muse Gabriella with Elisabeth, & began on a Red Thread Journey (follow the link to Join us Sunday May 3, noon PDT, for a free introduction to offering Red Thread Circles wherever you are in the world!!)
.... but the journey had really begun in 2013, when I saw the blurb for the 'Red' show at Currents Gallery, & decided to do a couple of paintings. Or it began .... well, I've been on the journey all along!

Ariadne's Red Thread - 2014

The idea for painting Ariadne's Red Thread, laid as a trail through the Cretan Labryrinth for Theseus to follow came shortly after reading the call for artists, & I pulled out little used acrylics, picked up a canvas & began painting ... Neither piece (the second was a small heart) was accepted for the show, & I set them aside .... 

After painting with Elisabeth, I revisited Ariadne's legend & the canvas, glazing the picture, & finding hints of some of her symbols - an early goddess figure, the double headed labrys or axe, a butterfly ... and tipped the spider web with silver paint ... 

Shande'nea 3-2

Painting our Legendary Lady is an integral part of the Color of Woman journey, part of teaching the teachers. A number of powerful women have gathered to hold space for the unfolding.
Jenafer Joy gives Journal prompts, Stella Mac asks questions, guides our Conference calls, & Maestra Shiloh Sophia offers wisdom, laughter, & the painting videos ...

As we work with the questions & prompts, we uncover the stories that have been running us, & begin to write a new story, ... we play with symbols, & see where they fit, we support each other through the trials & tribulations, the laughter & the tears ...

And our Legendary Self comes forward ... Shande'nea wanted a dragon (you can see a hint of it in the pic on my last post!) & now the labyrinth ... it is always intriguing to see how new elements often follow a stroke or pattern in the underpainting. 

Shande'nea with labyrinth 3-11

And allowing those bits of colour & pattern from earlier layers to show through is one of our goals! What is the painting built on? What is the foundation, what stories are we re-writing? Re-telling?

Symbols, colours, stories ... what stories have been running your life? Are you ready to step beyond them ? 

Happy 4th BD to Paint Party Friday!! 

Legendary Essence

In January, I began a 6 month online course 'A Fall in Love Legend' with a group of other women embarking on a journey of self discovery. Some of us will be going on to the Color of Woman Teacher training with Shiloh Sophia, others have already completed the training, and others were simply drawn to this course.
 
I pulled out some of my Flower Essence books & journals, & began the process of crafting a flower essence 'bouquet' to support my process with painting my own Legend. 

I began making my own flower essences in the early 90s: the chosen flowers are placed in water, in the sunshine for several hours - then bottled & the energetic 'fingerprint' of the flower preserved for later use! 

For my 'Legendary' essence, I chose some flowers to support work with the symbols from our 'compass' meditation, plus several for embarking on this journey!

THE JOURNEY:

Blueberry: past life info, stretching
Lady's slipper orchid: new opening, water balance, step forward with grace
Iayah Ixchel Orchid: Divine feminine in all aspects
Clary sage: Clear eyed vision of sage, balance
Rhytidiadelphus: Clear deep blocks, restore core essence
Illwara Flame Tree: Left out/ gain confidence

SYMBOLS:
Star of Bethlahem: I AM the Light of New Possibility, stepping into my Legendary Life
Mallow: Warm open heart, Past Life Memory
Snapdragon: Express feelings, speak truth
Madrone: Spirit tonic, Crown chakra
Queen Ann's Lace: Inner vision, calm, Highest choice, crown chakra

Legend - Shande'nea Star Gate

I add a few drops to my water or tea, to the water for the acrylic paint, & to a spray bottle. 

We have begun to paint, putting words on the canvas, strokes of colour (just 3 at first). Courses with Shiloh Sophia include a period of visioning, journaling, poetry writing, more journaling, sketching, painting. 

With 'Legend,' we are examining the stories that have been running us, & visioning into our new stories, and living our own legendary lives! 

"We all have our own life to pursue
Our own dream to be weaving
And we all have the power to make wishes come true
As long as we keep believing."
 - Louisa May Alcott

# 86: Structure your day so you have time for painting, reading, exercising and resting.
Irwin Greenberg's Painter's Primer 

Happy Paint Party Friday